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THE EARLY YEARS 



OF THE 



FRENCH REVOLUTION 



IN 



SAN DOMINGO. 



PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE CORNELL 

UNIVERSITY AS A THESIS FOR THE DEGREE 

OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, 

JULY, 1889. 



BY 

HERBERT ELMER MILLS, 

Associate Professor of History and Economics in Vassar College. 
Recently Fellow and Instructor in History \ Cornell University. 



PRESS OF A. V. HAIOHT, POUGHKEIMIE, H. Y. 



ni<.Hs-Jn 



\ 



hWZ3 

. N 1*5 



Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1892, by Herbert Elmer Mills, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 






PREFACE. 

The following pages are an attempt to extend the knowl- 
edge of the French Revolution in its phases out of Paris by a 
a study of that movement in the chief colony of France at 
that time. The subject has some interest from the stand- 
point of American History. Ex-President Andrew D. White 
of Cornell University, while in San Domingo as United 
States Commissioner, in 1871, collected a large amount of 
material bearing upon the history of both the French and 
Spanish parts of the island. To this material many addi- 
tions have since been made with generous purchases since I 
began to use it. This collection and the general sources upon 
the French Revolution in the White Library have provided 
me with abundance of material. My chief authority upon 
the political relations of the colony to France has been the 
Archives Parlementaires which, edited from the archives by 
Mm. Mavidal and Laurent, contains much not found in the 
reports of the proceedings of the National Assembly con- 
tained in the Moniteur. The latter has been of great assist- 
ance, giving many letters and news items from the colonies 
and the commercial cities of France. Both of these funda- 
mental authorities I have used continually. The next great 
source has been Garran de Coulon's Rapport sur les Troubles 
de Saint-Domingue, fait au nom de la Commission des 
Colonnies des Comite's de Salut Public, de Legislation et de 
Marine. This work in four volumes, printed by order of the 
National Convention in the year VI of the Republic is a 
mine of material otherwise inaccessible. Garran had access 
to all the minutes and records of the various assemblies of 
San Domingo and of the organizations in Paris interested in 
one or another of the colonial factions. He quotes at length 
from many documents, cites his authorities continually, 
shows discrimination and a desire to be impartial. He had 
thorough personal knowledge of the men and events of his 



4 Preface. 

time. He reveals some of the general prejudices of the ex- 
treme republican era, and from some of his conclusions I 
have dissented. Most of the general histories of the island 
were written in the early part of this century or the last 
of the last century, were based on Garran and have been of 
little use to me. Rainsford is utterly unreliable ; Edwards 
and Madiou give little that is new ; Ardouin and Madiou ad- 
mit that their works are based on Garran for this period. 
After the three chief sources named, next in importance are 
the contemporaneous tracts, memoirs, speeches, newspapers 
and letters. The White Library contains several hundred 
pamphlets of this sort relating to this subject, all of which 
I examined. Among them I may mention as especially use- 
ful the numerous tracts and speeches of Gouy d' Arsy which 
throw light on the proceedings of the Colonial Committee 
in France up to the beginning of 1790. I have tried to use 
these authorities critically, to avoid being misled by the 
prejudices of the times, and to depend more upon the un- 
conscious and unfortunate admissions of a man or party in 
his or its own statements than upon what these documents 
might say about the opposing party. As a slight excuse for 
unfortunate style and occasional apparent neglect to con- 
sider at length divergent views, I may be allowed to say 
that when submitted as a thesis for the doctorate, this study 
was nearly twice its present length, but that before printing 
I found it necessary to shorten by excising many long quota- 
tions from documents and to condense many discussions. 

As have so many others, I must express my thanks to 
Ex-President White for the use of his Library and for his 
generous additions to it. The use of this library was made 
possible by the Librarian, Professor George L. Burr from 
whom I received many valuable suggestions. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Importance of San Domingo 9 

Early History and Geography 10 

Prosperity in 1789 11 

Commercial Restrictions ......... 12 

Classes of the Population ......... 13 

Prejudices against the People of Color ...... 16 

Slaves and their Treatment ........ 19 

Government of the Colony ........ 21 

Causes of Dissension and Weakness ...... 24 

CHAPTER I. 

San Domingo secures Representation in the National Assembly. 

Attempts to secure admission to the States General ... 26 

The Governor is asked to call Assemblies ..... 28 

Unauthorized Assemblies meet ....... 28 

Election of deputies ; the cahiers ....... 29 

Attempts to secure admission to the States General .... 30 

Provisional admission at the Tennis Court 3° 

Final admission of six delegates ....... 31 

The Amis des Noirs .......... 32 

Dissensions among the Planters ; the Club Massiac .... 33 

CHAPTER II. 
The People of Color begin Agitation. 

Renewed Agitation for Abolition of Slavery 34 

Attempts of the Planters to secure a Colonial Assembly ... 35 

People of Color petition the National Assembly 35 

Their Representatives said to have been elected in the Colony . 36 

They were actually elected in Paris ....... 37 

They are not admitted to the Assembly 38 

CHAPTER III. 
The Beginning of the Revolution in the Colony. 

Scarcity of food in the Colony 39 

Du Chilleau and Marbois 40 

The former opens the ports .40 

Committees of Correspondence ....... 41 

Effect of the Fourteenth of July and the Declaration of Rights . 42 

Marbois is obliged to leave the island 43 

Early Assemblies and Committees 44 



Table of Contents. 



Origin of the Assembly of the North ; its early acts 
Legislative bodies formed in the other provinces 
The attitude of the Governor to the Assemblies 
The Superior Council and the Assembly of the North 
Relations of the Governor and the Assemblies 
Persecution of the People of Color .... 
Leaders in the North and their quarrels 



45 
45 
46 
46 

47 
47 
48 



CHAPTER IV. 
The National Assembly lays down a Constitutional Basis for the Colony. 

The affairs of the colony are brought before the National Assembly 50 

The proposal for a colonial committee rejected . . . . 51 

Different views as to the relations of France and the colony . . 52 

The ministerial plan for a colonial assembly rejected in the colony . 53 

The provincial assemblies agree on a plan 53 

Decree of the Eighth of March 54 

Objections of the People of Color 55 

Instructions of the Twenty-eighth of March 55 

The result due to the efforts of the colonial deputation 57 

CHAPTER V. 
The Early Days of the General Assembly. 

Composition of the Assembly of St. Marc ..... 58 

Its early measures .......... 58 

Commercial interests antagonistic to it 59 

News of the Decree of the Eighth of March 60 

Act of the Twenty-eighth of May ....... 61 

Provincial Assemblies protest against the General Assembly . . 61 

Act of the First of June ......... 62 

Instructions of the General Assembly to the Colonial Deputies in 

Paris .63 

Opposition in the Colony to the General Assembly ... 63 

The General Assembly sends Commissioners to the North . . 64 

Mutual recriminations ......... 64 

Relations of the Governor and the General Assembly ... 65 

Enemies of the General Assembly unite 65 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Ratification and Dissolution of the General Assembly. 

The Colony approves the course of the General Assembly . . 66 

The Assembly declares itself renewed ...... 67 

The troops refuse to obey the General Assembly .... 67 

Mauduit 68 

Weakness of the General Assembly ....... 69 

It opens the ports : and tries to win over the troops ... 69 

Mutiny on the Leopard 70 



Table of Contents. 7 

De Peinier declares the Assembly dissolved 71 

Dissolution of the Committee of the West ...... 71 

The Assembly of the North proceeds against the General Assembly 72 

The General Assembly appeals to the people 72 

Strength of the Assembly at St. Marc 73 

It sails for France 73 

CHAPTER VII. 
The General Assembly in France. 

Reception at Brest 74 

Its connection with the mutiny at Brest 75 

Unpopularity of the General Assembly in France ... 75 

It appears before the National Assembly 76 

Barnave's report adopted, 12th October 77 

The Assembly charged with having plotted independence . . 77 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The People of Color before the Act of the Twelfth of October. 

Early concessions to them 70 

Outrage and persecution 80 

The attitude of the General Assembly toward them ... 80 

CHAPTER IX. 
San Domingo after the Departure of the General Assembly. 

Its cause not lost 82 

Dissensions among its enemies 82 

The Peace of Leogane 83 

The Confederation of the South 83 

Weakness of the Assembly of the North 84 

Retirement of de Peinier 85 

CHAPTER X. 

Oge's Rebellion. 

The formation of his plan 86 

He reaches San Domingo ,87 

Proclaims his purposes 87 

Defeated and captured 88 

Trial and condemnation 89 

Consideration of his real motives 89 

CHAPTER XI. 
The Power of the Government Overthrown. 

Mutinous troops arrive from France 91 

The old and new troops mutiny 92 

Death of Mauduit 93 

New local governments organized ....... 93 

Blanchelande and the Assembly of the North 94 



8 Table of Contents. 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Decree of the Fifteenth of May, ijqi. 

Act of the First of February, 1 791 95 

The case of the Eighty-five referred to a new committee ... 96 

Barnave 96 

A conservative act proposed by the new committee ... 97 

The debate 97 

Rewbell's amendment passed 98 

Importance and effect of this act 98 



INTRODUCTION. 

The great struggle between France and England for colo- 
nial supremacy was, when the French Revolution broke out, 
practically completed. Napoleon attempted to regain what 
had been lost, but never did he seriously endanger the posi- 
tion of England as the mistress of seas and colonies. A 
century had seen great changes in the relative powers of 
these great rivals and every war had cost France valuable 
possessions. Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, India, Canada, 
are the names of the greater prizes only which were handed 
over to England ; and in 1763 France, which had once 
promised to be unquestioned ruler out of Europe as well as 
in it, could point to but few colonies and these comparatively 
insignificant. By common consent San Domingo was placed 
first among French foreign dependencies, particularly on ac- 
count of its wealth and enormous exports. " Immediately 
before the Revolution this island had attained a height of 
prosperity not surpassed in the history of European colonies. 
The greatest part of its soil was covered by plantations on 
a gigantic scale, which supplied half Europe with sugar, 
coffee and cotton. In 1788 it exported produce to the value 
of 150 million francs to France, four-fifths of which was re- 
exported to the north of Europe by the French dealers, who 
were always ready to support the planters, when necessary, 
with the whole power of their capital. The good fortune 
of the island had been still further enhanced by the passing 
of a measure in 1786 by which — contrary to the system of 
monopoly generally adhered to — the colony was allowed to 
trade directly with foreign countries. Since that time the 
planters had doubled their products and a large amount of 
French capital poured into the island for investment — a 
hundred millions from Bordeaux alone. The returns were 
already splendid and still greater were expected. The 
planters lived like Princes ; all the luxuries of a tropical 
climate and of European civilization were at their command. 
On their vast estates they ruled over thousands of negro 
slaves without feeling any power above them ; and since the 
emancipation of the American colonies, they had occasion- 
ally asked themselves why they still remained in dependence 
on the mother country." 1 

1 Von Sybel. History of the French Revolution. Translation. (London, 
1867) i., 405, 406. 



10 Introduction. 

The successive steps by which this prosperous condition 
had been attained form a history which it would be both 
interesting and profitable to consider did our purpose allow. 
Founded by those roving spirits, scarcely better than pirates, 
who followed the Spaniards into the new world, the colony, 
which then centered on the little island Tortuga but gradu- 
ally spread over the western half of San Domingo, had an 
exciting and precarious growth. The original settlers, the 
Spaniards, did their best to dispossess these bold buccaneers, 
three times, at least, driving them completely away. But 
the hardy enterprising plunderers, recognizing allegiance to 
no country and composed of various nationalities, although 
principally French and English, invariably returned to their 
old haunts which so well served their purposes. From their 
safe harbors they could easily sally forth to plunder the rich 
commerce of Spain ; the great herds of wild cattle on the 
plains furnished not only beef but hides which were a profit- 
able article of commerce. With rulers chosen from their 
own number and in absolute independence, the buccaneers 
lived a worthless, happy life, entirely free from restraint of 
either external power or moral consciousness. It was not 
until a fierce dissension between the French and English 
members compelled, that help from the outside was called 
in. Aided by the French governor at St. Christoph, the 
former succeeded in expelling the English, and from that 
time the Anglo-Saxons have never had control of either 
part of the island. Among the French governors, d* Ogeron 
merits the first place both for his energy and his wisdom. 
His efforts, always exerted for the improvement of the moral 
and social condition of the colonists, resulted in large immi- 
gration. It was not until the peace of Ryswick in 1697 that 
the Spanish recognized the French settlement by ceding the 
western half of the island. From that time the growth of 
the colony was rapid, the John Law scheme producing in 
in 1722 the only important rebellion. 8 

The French colony, occupying the western end of the 
island, contained about one-third of its area, and was nearly 
coextensive with what is now Hayti. It was very irregular 
in shape, varying in width from twenty to one hundred and 
seventy miles. Its greatest extent in a north and south line 
was about one hundred and twenty-five miles. Its soil was 

* The authorities on the early history'of ^San Domingo are Charlevoix 
Histoire de V Isle Espagnole ou de S. Domingue (Amsterdam, 1733), 4 vols. ; 
and Raynal Histoire Philosophique et Politique des £tablisse»tents des Eu- 
rop/ens dans les deux Indes. (Geneve, 1781), 10 vols. See vols. 6 and 7. 



Introduction. 1 1 

very fertile and for the most part arable. It was well 
watered and produced luxuriantly tropical fruits and woods. 
There were three provinces in the colony ; namely, those of 
the North, of the West and of the South, of which that of 
the North was the richest and most important. Its princi- 
pal towns were those of Cap Francais (now Cape Haytien), 
Port de Paix, and Cap St. Nicholas. Cap Frangais, com- 
monly known as the Cape, was the seat of the government 
in time of war, and, says Edwards, " would have ranked for 
beauty and regularity among the cities of the second class 
in any part of Europe." 3 The Province of the West was 
second in importance and contained a number of towns, of 
which Port-au-Prince, the capital of the island, St. Marc, 
Leogane, Petit Goave, Gonaives and Croix-des-Bouquets 
were the largest. The Province of the South was small in 
area, possessed few towns of importance and no good har- 
bors. Cayes was its chief mart. 

In the eighteenth century the importance of a colony was 
estimated by the amount of its commerce, and particularly 
by the amount which was carried on with the mother coun- 
try. From this standpoint France had every reason to be 
interested in promoting the welfare of San Domingo, for its 
trade was a constantly increasing source of wealth to her. 
The student of economic history would find it a profitable 
subject of investigation to attempt to ascertain the causes 
for the great disparity in the conditions of the French and 
of the Spanish parts of the island. The latter, that old 
Hispaniola of which Columbus gives such charming ac- 
counts in his letters, whose natural products and mines 
seemed to promise for the larger Spain inexhaustible wealth, 
had, during the eighteenth century, shown no growth and was 
in a wretched condition both as concerned production and 
commerce ; while the French colony with precisely the 
same conditions of soil, climate, and distance from Europe 
had revealed in the seventy years before the Revolution 
wonderful progress. 4 There were evident signs of increas- 
ing wealth, happiness and culture. Between 1716 and 1789 
the annual imports of France from her American colonies 
increased from 16,700,000 livres to 185,000,000 livres. 6 

The total value of the exports of San Domingo in 1789 

3 Edwards, An Historical Survey of the French Colony in the Island of St. 
Domingo being volume third in The History, Civil and Commercial of the 
British Colonies in the West Indies. 3 vols. (London, 1801), 159. 

4 Garran, Rapport sur les Troubles de Saint-Domingue. 4 vols. (Paris, 
an VI de la Republique), i., 37. 

6 Ibid, i., 37, 38. 



12 Introduction. 

were 175,900,000 francs or about $32,000,000." This was 
the legal trade, in addition to which there was considerable 
smuggling carried on. The principal articles of export were 
sugar to the value of 84,026,726 francs ; coffee, 48,598,276 
francs; cotton, 21,012,820 francs ; indigo, 3,607,832 francs, 
and a large amount of other tropical products.' Of the en- 
tire amount of imports from the American colonies France 
consumed only a little over two-fifths, re-exporting the re- 
mainder. 8 The importance of the commerce with San Do- 
mingo for the business interests of France led the merchants 
of Bordeaux and other ports to take an active part in the 
subsequent struggle of the colony to preserve its commercial 
rights, and especially in their attempt to prevent any revo- 
lution in industry by emancipation of the slaves. 9 A certain 
amount of trade, partly legal and partly illicit was carried on 
with the Spanish part of the island, with Jamaica and with 
New England. 10 

After the India companies had been dissolved in 1724, 
trade was in 1727 made free to all French merchants but 
forbidden to those of other nationalities. The superiority 
of England's navy during the wars that occupied the suc- 
ceeding years made starvation inevitable in the island if the 
prohibition laws were enforced, so that smuggling was con- 
nived at. This was especially the case during the Seven 
Years' War when large numbers of slaves died of hunger. 
In 1767 two ports of entry were established by France in 
her American colonies, one of them being the Mole St.- 
Nicholas in San Domingo. Here foreigners could bring 
only rice, lumber, vegetables and live animals, the importa- 
tion of salted meats and fish being forbidden. Little relief 
followed from this measure, owing to the difficulty of com- 
munication of the greater part of the island with this city, 
the coasting trade being dangerous. The expenses of car- 
riage and the extortions of the merchants at this port often 
quadrupled the price of goods delivered on shipboard as 
compared with what the planter received. A great earth- 
quake in 1770 brought terrible famine but no more legisla- 

6 Placide- Justin, Histoire Politique et Statisque de V Isle\d' Hayti, Saint- 
Domingue (Paris, 1826), 505. 

1 Table compiled by Wante and given in Dalmas, Histoire de la Revolution 
de- Saint- Domingue. 2 vols. (Paris, 1814). ii., 294. The figures are for the 
year 1789. 

8 Raynal, vii., 140, 141. 

9 Archives Parlementaires, xi., 698,699, 761 ;~xii., 7. 62. Moniteur Uni- 
versel, 1791, 528. 

10 Garran, i.,37. 



Introduction. 13 

tive relief. Then followed the American war, during which 
the prohibitions were somewhat relaxed in favor of the 
Anglo-Americans. The smuggling trade became so great 
that in 1784 the one port of entry was suppressed and the 
three ports of Cap Francais, Port-au-Prince and St. Louis 
were opened to the free introduction of lumber, live cattle of 
all kinds and of salt beef. These regulations were strictly 
enforced although the governor seems to have been allowed, 
in case of famine, to open the ports for a short time for the 
admission of food, with the provision that any regulation to 
this effect made by him must at once be forwarded to the 
Minister of Marine for his approval. 11 

The population of the colony in 1789 is variously stated 
by different writers, the estimates varying from that of 
Garran, who places it at 500,00c) 13 to that of Madiou, 13 whose 
estimate is 812,000. It is probable that the real number 
was somewhere between 550,000 and 600,000, including 465,- 
000 to 500,000 slaves, 30,000 whites and a third class of 
free people of color whose numbers probably amounted to 
from 25,000 to 30,000" although there are the most diverse 
estimates. The number of slaves was eight or nine times 
as many as that of the whites. As a large share of the 
troubles that subsequently arose were caused by the oppos- 
ing interests of the three castes just mentioned, some knowl- 
edge of their origin, characteristics and relations must be 
had. 

First in influence, wealth and social rank were the white 
inhabitants of the island. But they were of various sets, 
whose characteristics and interests were so different as to 
forbid common description. Oldest in family and most 
aristocratic in feeling were the Creoles, descended from 
Frenchmen who had early come to the colony. Although 
these families could have no pride in their origin, since they 
were, for the most part, descendants of criminals and women 
of the lowest character who early sought the island or were 
banished there, long residence, great wealth and almost un- 
limited power on their estates had given them the exclusive- 
ness and haughtiness of bearing which are the distinguish- 
ing marks of aristocracies. There was a gulf not only be- 
tween them and the colored people but also between them 

11 See Arrets in references 51 and 53. 
15 i„ 13. 

13 Histoire a" Haiti, 3 vols. (Port-au-Prince, 1847), i., 29. 
14 Archives, xxvi., 67,71. Garran, i., 16,18; Madiou, i.,29; Placide- 
Justin, 144, 145. 



14 Introduction. 

and the whites who had more recently come to the island to 
hold government positions or for the purpose of gaining a 
fortune. For the most part planters rather than merchants, 
living on their large estates with hundreds, even thousands, 
of slaves ; amusing themselves with frequent fetes at which 
entertainment was provided by musicians, dancers and actors 
brought from France ; sending their children to Europe to 
be educated, after they had reached a stage where the 
services of European tutors were no longer sufficient ; allying 
themselves with the noble families of the mother country ; 
in short, enjoying all the luxuries and charms of life that the 
combined resources of Europe and the tropical isles could 
afford, it is not strange that they should have revealed traits 
of character marking a higher caste, or that the expression 
" c'est un Creole " should have become in France a common 
means of designating a very wealthy man. 

The common traits of the French people seem to have 
been intensified in the Creoles by the climate and their man- 
ner of life. They possessed in a high degree love of pleas- 
ure, sociability, generosity, acuteness, frankness, bravery and 
fidelity, but they were lazy, frivolous, hot-tempered, im- 
patient of restraint and toward their inferiors, especially 
their slaves, arrogant and even cruel. That genius, that 
love for science and that sense of order that mark the 
French were not theirs. The Creole women, beautiful, 
voluptuous, jealous, shy with strangers but wholly uncon- 
strained with their friends, were indolent and passionate 
even to old age. 16 The position of the Creoles in the colony 
was somewhat similar to that of the southern planters of 
the United States before the civil war, and in more than one 
respect the likeness extended to personal traits. 

Another aristocratic class of whites rested its claim to su- 
periority on a different basis from that of the Creole. This 
was the official class sent out for the government of the 
island. They were charged with despotic rule, were fre- 
quently ignorant of the welfare of the colony and had all 
that cool assumption of superiority and that disdain for 
those around them which so commonly mark the man of the 
metropolis when in the provinces. 

In the cities were to be found also the merchants who, im- 
pelled by a desire to make a fortune, came to San Domingo, 
since it was the only considerable colony left to France and 
because its immense commerce promised opportunities for 

16 Hillard d'Auberteuil, Considerations sur I' Etat Present dc la Colonie 
Franfaise de Saint-Domingue. 2 vols. (Paris, 1777), ii., 25 seqq, 



Introduction. 1 5 

amassing wealth which could no where else be found by a 
Frenchman. While the Creoles lived in the country and 
were content to take life easily enjoying it from day to day, 
the more recent comers to the island made up the greater 
part of the city population. The merchants were, for the 
most part, young men who had lost fortunes and character in 
France, bankrupts, fugitive monks, retired officers, priests 
tired of their profession. In a class where a ruined set so 
greatly predominated we cannot expect to find many virtues. 
Their position was in some respects like that of the Ameri- 
can miners of 1848 who in a strange country for the sake of 
making fortunes, had no reputation to sustain and subjected 
themselves to no restraint. But in San Domingo the en- 
vironment both natural and social led to indulgence in 
vice that took other lines than among the gold hunters. 
Toward the slaves they exhibited the greatest harshness and 
cruelties ; their slave girls were their concubines, but the po- 
sition of these unfortunates was not accompanied by the 
ease and luxury which are to such women the usual com- 
pensation for their loss of virtue ; they were made to work 
as long as the day lasted, were insufficiently clad and were 
deprived of the money which they earned by prostitution. 16 
Among a class which could tolerate such a low state of 
morals there could have been little of that strength of char- 
acter so greatly needed in the ensuing years. 

About equal to the planters in numbers, there was a third 
class of the whites, making up the bulk of the city population. 
They were commonly called the Petit s-B lanes. They were 
largely artisans but among them were included inn-keepers, 
small merchants, slave overseers and many of no particular 
calling. The artisans who had first come to the island, had 
come bound to service for a term of years and were known 
as engage's. The memory of this forced service had begot- 
ten a kind of contempt for all whites who earned their living 
by manual labor, and they were despised not alone by the 
planters but by the people of color. 17 In their number were 
also adventurers and many who had fled from Europe to 
escape punishment for their crimes. They were of different 
countries, for the most part without property, and ready for 
any revolution. In the scenes that followed they were con- 
spicuous. 18 

16 Hilliard d' Auberteuil, ii., 33 seqq. 

11 This expression is used not as a euphemism for negroes and mulattoes 
but as a technical definite term for all free negroes and mulattoes. 

18 Garran, i., pp. 20,21. La Croix, Me'moires pour servir a £ Histoire de 
la Revolution de Saint-Domingue. 2 vols. (Paris, 1819), i., 20, 21. Raimond, 



1 6 Introduction. 

The nature of the climate, and the disinclination and in- 
ability of the European whites to marry had led to a very 
universal cohabitation of the whites with the colored women. 
From these unlawful unions had sprung a large class of mu- 
lattoes of all shades of color and degree of blood mixture. 
As early as the time of Louis XIV, by the Black Code pub- 
lished in 1685, that monarch had attempted by heavy fines 
and manumission to put an end to this rapidly increasing 
concubinage. It was provided that in such cases the slave 
and her children should become free. 19 But the edict seems 
to have been of little effect and at the outbreak of the 
Revolution, the number of free mulattoes and free negroes 
was nearly equal to that of the whites. Some of these had 
bought their freedom, others had received it as a reward for 
long and faithful service, but for the most part their liberty 
was simply a result of dishonor. " The sweet promptings 
of nature, which makes itself felt even by the harshest ty- 
rants, have rarely allowed the whites to leave in slavery the 
fruits of their union with the negro race." The custom of 
manumission had become so common that Hilliard d' Au- 
berteuil, who favored a recognized concubinage in order to 
escape the evils of public prostitution, 30 devotes a whole 
chapter to a discussion of this question and strongly advo- 
cates restriction or prohibition of manumission. He main- 
tains that the good order of the colony and its success de- 
pends upon preserving the various ranks of the people and 
upon holding the people of color in subjection. However, 
no such regulation had been made and these unfortunate 
creatures had attained a considerable degree of material 
prosperity and of intelligence. 

So strong has become the social prejudice against the 
colored people in our day that it may seem entirely unneces- 
sary to say that such existed in the French colony of San 
Domingo. The separation between the races and the feel- 
ing against miscegenation are now so marked that we can 
scarcely imagine that the Caucasian and negro once associ- 
ated on terms of comparative equality, yet it is asserted by 
one whose statements are worthy of credence, 111 that in the 

M/moire sur les Causes des Troubles et des D/sastres de la Colonie de Saint-Do- 
mingue. (Paris, 1793) 8, 9. 

19 Code Noir, article 9, as given in Madiou, iii., 443. 

5n ii., 4 8. 

21 Raimond. Observations sur V Origineet les Progr<!s du Pn'juge' des Colons 
Blancs contre les Ilommes de Couleur. (Paris, 1791). Raimond was a mu- 
latto, but one highly respected and, apparently, comparatively free from 
prejudice and unfairness. 



Introduction. ly 

early history of the colony there was no such prejudice, but 
that the white men married freely with the mulattresses and 
freely associated with the mulattoes. Even after white 
women began to come to the island the preference of the 
planters was rather for the colored women, who to certain 
charms of person, added considerable wealth. As time went 
on, the mulattoes who had been educated in France, began 
to return and to compete with the whites, while the wealth 
and importance of the island brought many white women 
there also. These women were very naturally jealous of 
their dusky rivals, and endeavored with much success, to re- 
legate them to what seemed their appropriate place." 

Whatever may have been the earlier feeling, it is certain 
that during the last half of the eighteenth century there was 
bitter hatred between the two classes of the free people. 
Measure after measure was passed directed against the 
colored inhabitants. The whites were forbidden to marry 
the colored women of however light a shade, even in order to 
legitimize their children, and whites who had married colored 
women were removed from office. The mulattoes had, 
before 1763, held office in the militia, but they were now de- 
prived of their rank. They were forbidden to use carriages, 
to dress after the manner of the whites, to clothe themselves 
with the same materials or to wear jewels ; to travel in 
France or to educate their children there ; or even to prac- 
tice surgery. Whites of noble birth who had married colored 
women were forbidden the privilege of recording their titles 
and for the same offence were even declared fallen from the 
class of whites. It was even proposed that the colored 
people be deprived of the European names which they bore 
and be compelled to assume African ones." They were, 
according to Bryan Edwards, prevented from holding any 
public office or trust, and were not allowed to engage in the 
professions of priest, lawyer, physician, surgeon, apothecary 
or school master. The same writer also mentions an old 
law in which it was provided that if a free man of color 
should strike a white person, he should lose his right 
hand, while a white man, for a similar offense, should be dis- 

32 See also Clausson Precis Historique de la Revolution de Saint-Domingue. 
This author was a white proprietor of the aristocratic party, but he agrees 
with Raimond. 

83 Raimond, as above, 8-10. Gregoire Me'moire en faveur des gens de cou- 
leur on sangmeUs de Saint-Domingue . , . adress/ a I' Assemble Nationale 
(Paris, 1789.) Observations d'un Habitant des Colonies sur le Me'moire en fa- 
veur des gens de couleur, etc. (Paris (?) 1789). Rfyonse aux Observations d' un 
Habitant des Colonies, etc., par M. Abbe de Cournaud. 



1 8 Introduction. 

missed on payment of an insignificant fine. Edwards, how- 
ever, admits " that the manners of the white inhabitants 
softened, in some measure, the severity of the laws." 24 It is 
probable that none of the accounts of the relations between 
the whites and the people of color give an accurate, unpreju- 
diced statement. All the writers were partisans of one side 
or the other, and the only testimony that is entirely trust- 
worthy, consists of the admissions unconsciously made by 
the advocates of each side. Clausson, a planter, says there 
was a deep rooted prejudice against the people of color and 
that they could not be blamed for claiming their political 
rights, although he disapproved of, the method in which 
this had been done. He illustrates the prejudice in saying: 
" Considered as the shameful offspring of the lust of their 
masters, ought they, in fact, to participate in this equality 
of rights which the enslaved negroes could claim with a 
juster title." 26 Hilliard d' Auberteuil, writing twelve years 
before the Revolution, declares that the number of the 
freedmen is too large. 38 He also maintains that although 
" among all peoples who have had slaves, the sons and grand- 
sons of the freedmen have been held free by birth ; yet at 
San Domingo, policy and safety require that we crush the 
race of the blacks by so great a contempt that whoever de- 
scends from it, even to the sixth generation, shall be covered 
by an indelible stain." " He reveals the feeling with re- 
gard to the punishment of the lower race for offenses toward 
their rulers in saying that " the superiority of the whites re- 
quires that the mulatto who commits a fault toward them 
shall be punished immediately, and there is a kind of hu- 
manity in allowing that they shall humiliate him by a chas- 
tisement, prompt and proportioned to the insult."" He 
would not allow them to bear witness against the whites ex- 
cept in case of necessity, or of a capital crime," and would 
have a law passed preventing the blacks ever becoming free. 
He mentions a regulation which forbade the people of color 
taking the names of the whites, and says that a black who 
strikes a white ought to be punished with death. 80 Dalmas, 

84 iii., 35-38. The work of Edwards was fiercely attacked by Venault de 
Charmilly in his Lettre dM. Bryan Edwards .... en refutation de son 
ouvrage, etc. (London, 1797.) This " letter " is some 234 quarto pages in 
length and takes up Edward's statements one by one. Edwards was a 
planter in Jamaica and while in San Domingo in 1791, after the negro out- 
break, collected much material upon the history of the troubles. Charmilly 
was a planter of San Domingo and prominent in political affairs. 

96 Pre'cis Ilistorique, 19-21. 26 ii., 72, s, ii., 73. 2S ii. ,75. " ii,, 76. 30 ii., 
81, 74- 



Introduction. 19 

an extreme royalist, writing after the Revolution, speaks of 
them as a " mixed caste, contemptible and ungrateful." 31 

There is no doubt that the people of color were compara- 
tively unmolested in the exercise of their civil rights, and 
that they had in many cases amassed considerable fortunes ; 
it is said, that they owned one-third of the landed property 
and one-fourth of the personal property in the island." 
They possessed large estates, travelled in Europe and fre- 
quently sent their sons there to be educated. There were 
among them some very intelligent persons, and but a very 
small percentage had ever been slaves. They were faithful, 
generous, and fond of their parents and children. It is 
probable that the oppression to which they were subjected 
had prevented the gain in mental powers and general cul- 
ture which otherwise might have been expected, and that 
they possessed many of the weaknesses of the colored race. 
The women particularly were far from being what they 
ought. By a census taken in 1774 it was found that out of 
7,000 free women of color in the colony, 5,000 were living as 
mistresses of white men, although very few were public 
prostitutes. 33 Since, of course, a large part of the free men 
of color were children of these women, and consequently 
brought up without that careful attention and benign in- 
fluence to be found only in home life founded on marriage, 
it is natural that the great majority of this class should not 
have been of a high order of morality. 

There was one more class in the community, that of the 
slaves, who, as has been said, outnumbered the whites in 
the proportion of eight or nine to one. The aborigines 
who had received Columbus and his companions as divini- 
ties from another world were early enslaved by the Span- 
iards. The Indian, however, seems incapable of enduring 
a life of captivity, and the drudgery in the mines and 
fields together with the harsh treatment of their masters, 
is said to have resulted, in the fifteen years after the coming 
of the Europeans, in a decrease of their numbers from one 
million to sixty thousand. 34 However much we may dis- 
credit the exactness of this statement, it undoubtedly 
points to a horrible diminution of the population and gives 
a sickening insight into the sources of the wealth of the 
Spanish Empire in the sixteenth century. From the neigh- 
boring islands, thousands were enlisted or forcibly carried 
_____ . 

38 La Croix, i., 15. 

33 Placide-Justin, 145. 

34 Charlevoix, ii., 54. 



20 Introduction. 

to their fate. 35 Only among the monks was the voice of 
compassion raised. The name of one of these priests, Las 
Casas, has endured for his pure, unselfish devotion to the 
Indians. But it gives us considerable enlightenment upon 
the views and feelings of that century toward the Black 
Race to know that it was this priest, so nobly giving up his 
life for one unfortunate race of people, who also suggested 
the bringing of negroes from Africa as a means of relief to 
the Indians. 36 The slave trade at first was not great, but 
by the middle of the sixteenth century had become general, 
and from that time continued unchecked. It is said by one 
author that the annual importation of Negroes from Africa 
amounted, during the years preceeding the Revolution, to 
30,000, and during the eighteenth century there had been 
brought 900,000 slaves. Still in 1789 in spite of the fact that 
the climate was favorable to their multiplication, there were 
in the island only a little more than half that number. 37 
Garran says that there was not a plantation in the island 
where the number of slaves could be maintained without 
annual purchases, the annual death rate being one-ninth. 38 
Of three hundred and eighty-four European ships engaged 
in the commerce of the colony, fifty were in the slave trade. 
" The mortality among the slaves brought to the island has 
been one-third," 39 says a firm upholder of the island aris- 
tocracy, and " there perished every year nearly one-fifteenth 
of the entire number," 40 after they had become accli- 
mated. These facts concerning the great death rate 
are very suggestive with regard to the treatment to 
which they were subjected. Of the direct testimony 
upon this point we must be very suspicious for most of 
the works were written after the rebellions, and after 
the founding of the Black Empire, and are greatly biased. 
As the enslaved negroes play a very subordinate part in the 
period of which we are to treat, it will not be necessary to 
make a detailed examination of their condition. Here again 
we may, perhaps, most safely trust Hilliard d' Auberteuil, 
who, writing twelve years before the outbreak of the troubles 
and desirous of introducing reforms advantageous to the 
planters, was not likely to be biased in favor of the aboli- 
tion of slavery. Indeed he expressly declares that it must 

36 Ibid, ii., 55. 

36 Ibid, ii., 155, 156. 

8 ' Placide-Justin, 147. 

88 Garran, i., 24. 

89 Hilliard d' Auberteuil, i., 67, 
"Ibid, i., 69. 



Introduction. 21 

be maintained, and argues for the restriction of emancipa- 
tion." The negroes were good-natured, easy to manage, in- 
dustrious when not discouraged, sober and patient. He be- 
lieves that their lot under a good master compares favorably 
with that of the peasants in France." " The negroes have 
not that atrocious character which ignorance and fear have 
attributed to them ; they have almost never raised a mur- 
derous hand against their masters, and it is from us that 
they have learned the use of poison. Nevertheless the ma- 
jority of the whites live in continual fear. They nearly all 
recognize how much reason their slaves have to hate them and 
give them their deserts ; the kind master does not experience 
any such terrors and his slaves are his friends."* In spite 
of the edict of 1685 " negroes perish daily in fetters or 
under the lash; they are beaten to death, choked, burned 
without formality." 44 " In San Domingo, whoever is white, 
maltreats with impunity the blacks. Their situation is such 
that they are slaves of their masters and of the public. 
Whenever an injury has been done a slave, the judges are 
accustomed to consider only the diminution of his value." 46 
After such testimony it is unnecessary to present that of 
those writers who were advocates of emancipation. In San 
Domingo as in every community where slavery exists, the 
happiness or the misery of the slave depended very largely 
on the character of the owner. It is sad to know that the 
free people of color did not exert their influence for the 
amelioration of the lot of their less fortunate brethren." 

The government of the colony vested ultimately in the 
Minister of Marine, representing the King. 47 M. de Pons, 
one of the Planters, a member of the General Assembly of 
San Domingo, and, of course, strongly prejudiced against 
the old form of administration, said : " During all time this 

41 ii., 83 and elsewhere. 

42 i., 132-135. 
48 i., 137-139. 

44 i., 144. 

45 i-, 145. 

46 Garran, i., 24. 

47 The statements of the different writers upon the powers of the differ- 
ent departments of the government, and upon the evils of the administra- 
tion are widely at variance. Most of the French writers, imbued with ex- 
treme democratic theories, could see no more good in the government of the 
colony than in that of France. To them it was totally bad. Bryan Ed- 
wards writes with all the British antipathy that was in his day so particu- 
larly manifested against the French. Venault de Charmilly convicts him 
of numerous errors and makes him doubtful authority. Charmilly is more 
trustworthy. He shows that whatever excesses might have been expected 
from the absolute power of the government were moderated by the wealth 
and influence*of the Planters. 



22 Introduction. 

colony has been regarded as the patrimony of the Minister 
of Marine, his wishes were the only laws observed in its tri- 
bunals ; and if any immediate orders of the King or Council 
of State should arrive at San Domingo, a simple letter of 
the Minister was sufficient to arrest their execution." 48 His 
edicts were laws, there being no bodies which could in any 
considerable way restrict the absolute power of the mon- 
archy in the colonies. 49 The administration of affairs was 
placed in the hands of the Governor and an Intendant, 
both appointed by the Minister of Marine and both invari- 
ably residents of France. In common these officials 
possessed many powers such as nomination to the less im- 
portant offices, the principal appointments being in the 
hands of the Minister, as was also the ratification of all 
nominations ; control of police, of roads and of public works ; 
presidency of the judicial councils of which the Intendant 
was actual president and the Governor honorary president. 
Individually the Governor had the military administration 
and represented the royal power, while the Intendant was 
more especially concerned with the finances and with just- 
ice. 60 An edict of the King's council published in 1789 
shows that Edwards is wrong in attributing absolute powers 
to the Governors. 61 

Instead of the Governor's powers being unlimited 
they were very carefully restricted and defined. In case 
of a disagreement between the Governor and the Inten- 
dant, the latter had an appeal to the home govern- 
ment. Just before the troubles began in the island, this 
right of appeal had been very successfully used by the In- 
tendant Marbois with regard to an act of the Governor 
which opened the ports of the island to the admission of 
foreign corn. 62 This dual administration is represented on 
the one hand as having interfered with the proper carrying 
on of the government, and on the other as having been such 
a balancing of powers as to prevent excess. It is probable 

48 Observations sur le Situation Politique de Saint-Domingue (Paris, 
1790). 1. 2. 

49 Garran, i., 31. 

60 Ibid, i., 30, 31. 

61 Arret du conseil d' £tat du Roi qui casse et annutte une Ordonnance du 
Gouverneur general de Saint-Domingue, du g Mai dernier, laquelle accordait 
aux Strangers la liberte" du commerce pour la Partie du Sud de Saint-Domingue 
(Versailles, 1789), 2. 

62 Dalmas, i., 20 also Arret du conseil d' j£tat du Roi portant cassation d' une 
Ordonnance de M. le Marquis du Chilleau, Gouverneur, Lieutenant g/n / ral de 
Saint-Domingue, du 27 Mai dernier, coneemant /' introduction des farines 
/trange"res. (Versailles, 1789) and the arret in note 51. 



Introduction. 23 

that there is truth in each statement, although Dalmas, a 
supporter of the old regime, admits that this two-fold head- 
ship did result in continual trouble and scandal. The pow- 
ers of the Governors were not fixed definitely by law, but 
were described in the commission given to each appointee, 
and varied from time to time. To a governor possessing a 
greater degree of the king's confidence, especial power 
would be given. This uncertainty and change were a cause 
of discontent. 63 In each of the three provinces there was a 
deputy governor or commander en second. 

Justice was administered in the first instance by local jus- 
tices called se'ne'chaiix with an appeal to a Superior Council. 
In earlier times there had been but one of these Superior 
Councils and it sat at Port-au-Prince. In 1701 a second 
one was established at Cap Francais, which continued 
until 1787, when it was consolidated with that at Port-au- 
Prince. Garran says that the reason for this consolidation 
was the opposition manifested at times by the Superior 
Councils to the registration of laws. 64 It was thought that 
a single body would be more easily controlled. 66 This 
council was composed of the Governor, Intendant, Deputy- 
Governors, twelve councillors, chosen from the attorneys in 
the island, and some other officials. 56 

Throughout the seventeenth century there were no gen- 
eral taxes, each community providing for its own necessi- 
ties, but in 1698 a tax was placed on the exportation of in- 
digo. The taxes were gradually increased by the royal au- 
thority, but always nominally voted by the local assemblies 
until 1763, when the royal government placed the amount 
of the taxes at 4,000,000 livres — to be collected as the 
Superior Councils might judge most expedient. Taxes 
were levied on negroes, on exportation and importation of 
commodities and on houses, the soil not being touched. 
There were certain other revenues which were turned into 
the royal treasury, such as the postal receipts, fines, per- 
centages on judicial judgments and on sales in the markets, 
and sums which had to be paid on the enfranchisement of 
slaves. 67 

It is scarcely necessary to say that there were many 
causes of dissatisfaction in the island and that its people 

S3 Hilliard d' Auberteuil, ii., 116, 117. 

"i.,33. 

" Edwards, Hi., 30. 

E6 Ibid, Hi., 30, and Hilliard d' Auberteuil.Mi., 223 seqq. 

61 Garran, i., 39-41. 



2 4 Introduction. 

were far from considering their condition a happy one. 
Slavery was a volcano under the feet of the free people. 
The possession of civil rights only and the contempt with 
which they were regarded made the free colored people 
ready to welcome any movement which would bring a 
change. There was continual suspicion and even open dis- 
cussion between these two classes of the free people. The 
planters further felt the burden of the colonial system, by 
which all commerce was supposed to be for the mother 
country, as grievously as our ancestors felt the burden of 
England's policy. They had the example of the English 
colonies in North America as an incentive to throw off the 
yoke that was on them. Rich and aristocratic they naturally 
were jealous of the officials sent to govern them for a few 
years and to fill their pockets with ill-gotten gains. Further 
the Creoles did not consider themselves as Frenchmen and 
had not that attachment to France that less remote descend- 
ants of Frenchmen would have felt. They pointed to their 
original independence and to the fact that, far from having 
been conquered, they had given themselves to France, as 
reason why they should now enjoy some degree of self- 
government. 68 

It is evident that only a spark was needed to put the 
colony into a blaze. Liberty was the cry of all classes of 
the people, each putting its own interpretation on the mean- 
ing of the word. Liberty from crushing slavery was the 
cry which Wilberforce and Clarkson had raised in England, 
which had found a ready response in France and which was 
a matter of life and death to half a million blacks in San 
Domingo. Liberty in its political sense and equal rights in 
everything was the cry of the free people of color. Liberty 
in commerce, freedom from the colonial policy, self-govern- 
ment were the cries of the other half of the free people — a 
universal desire for freedom, but the desires of the different 
classes completely irreconcilable. All were wishing for the 
prevalence of the very ideas which the Revolution was to 
bring, but each selfishly. To oppose the storm about to 
break out there was no class with even the weak strength of 
the French nobility — only a few hated officials and some 
thousands of troops, themselves all ready to join the uni- 
versal cry. 

Nor was there the moral strength which might moderate 
the fury of the forces at play and manipulate them for the 

68 Gastine, Histoire de la Republique a" Haiti on Saint- Domingue, VEsclav- 
age et les Colons, (Paris, 1819), 78. 



Introduction. 25 

general good. The Planters were haughty, unaccustomed 
to self-restraint and even cruel. The Petits-Blancs were 
jealous, mean and corrupt. The people of color were men- 
tally and morally weak. 

But, perhaps, even more influential in shaping the course 
of events was the complete lack of ability for self-govern- 
ment. None of the inhabitants of the island had had any 
experience in administration or legislation. Even more 
significant was the absence of any latent capacity for wise 
political activity. To this political sense the North-Ameri- 
can colonies owed their success, and the lack of it has played 
havoc in France for a century. In San Domingo its entire 
absence, the ignorance of many of the people, their immor- 
ality, their selfishness, the evils of long continued despotic 
government and the complete want of that noble, though in 
some respects mistaken, enthusiasm for liberty, equality, 
fraternity, which permeated the people of France, impelled 
many even of the old aristocracy to resign their privileges 
and produced a Fourth of August, were the forces guiding 
the colonial revolutionary movement into interesting but 
not inspiring courses. 



CHAPTER I. 

SAN DOMINGO SECURES REPRESENTATION IN THE NATIONAL 

ASSEMBLY. 

The striking ignorance as to what the immediate future 
was to bring forth that prevailed in France, when, on the 
eighth day of August, 1788, Louis XVI. summoned the 
States General, was paralleled in San Domingo. There, too, 
each faction thought only of the advantages which it ex- 
pected to gain, and failed to observe that divergence of in- 
terest must result in a clash that would bring almost uni- 
versal ruin. Each class in the island was alert and prepared 
to reap all the selfish benefit that it could from the pros- 
pective changes. But at first the Planters seemed to be 
the ones whose interests would especially be advanced. 
They thought that by gaining a representation in the 
newly-called States General they would secure a voice in 
the conduct of legislation, and that the administration of the 
government would fall into their hands rather than remain 
in control of ofificials from France. Hilliard d' Auberteuil 
had written at length to show that the chief grievances felt 
by the Planters were the weight of the military government 
with its constant interference in all affairs, and the lack of 
legislative freedom. Now that the States General was to 
meet and the old abuses in France were to be corrected, the 
Planters hoped to remove their causes for complaint. No 
one seemed to think that the Revolution would lead to 
emancipation of the slaves. 6 ' 

No sooner had the announcement of the approaching 
meeting of the States General been made than those planters 
of San Domingo who at the time were residents in Paris, 
began working to secure a representation of their interests, 
apparently under the authority and at the wish of some 
planters in the island. Such representation was a vital 
question to the colony, for, if it were recognized as a part 
of the nation it might expect to enjoy benefits flowing from 
the Revolution, while if its representatives were not given 
seats in the States General it would remain under the abso- 
lute government of the king and his officers. Some ninety 
of these colonial proprietors in Paris, nearly all of noble 

69 La Croix, i., 10, 



San Domingo secures Representation. 27 

rank, met and appointed a commission of nine to forward 
their interests. 80 The most prominent of their number and 
the only one who left much evidence of ability, was Jean 
Louis Marthe, Marquis de Gouy d'Arsy. He was their 
spokesman and the writer of their letters and memorials. 

There is little doubt that this committee and the San 
Domingans in Paris who were in sympathy with it were 
cordially supported from the first by a large number of the 
planters in the island. There were, however, in Paris some 
planters not in accord with the objects of this commission. 
They were of such strength that the commission felt obliged 
to combat their arguments, notably in a paper of considerable 
length published in September, 1788. 61 This was the germ 
of the later strong faction of the Club Massiac and had its 
supporters in the colony. 

The colonial committee was very active in its agitation to 
secure the admission of colonial delegates to the States 
General. Great efforts were made to convert la Luzerne 
to their views and also to gain over Du Chilleau, the Gov- 
ernor of San Domingo, who then chanced to be in France. 
There was prospect of success so far as the latter was con- 
cerned until he had consulted with la Luzerne. 63 This 
party claimed that the colony was a part of the nation. 
They professed great loyalty. 63a " Victims of the climate, we 
have braved death to increase your possessions, and when 
finally it was recognized that nature refused to the French 
the strength of body to cultivate a soil burning under a tor- 
rid zone, we preserved ourselves for the direction of the 
work and sought in Africa an entire people already acclimat- 
ed ; we ordered them to enrich the metropolis and our 
sovereign, and as a reward for their work have treated them, 
from reasons of humanity and interest, as our children, in 
despite of the erroneous assertions of innovating philoso- 
phers." They emphasized the union of the French nobility 
with the people of San Domingo — "your court has become 
Creole by alliances." 

The Council of State refused to recognize these commis- 
sioners on account of the irregularity of their powers and 



60 The minutes of the proceedings of the Commission are given in a pamph- 
let entitled Lettre du Comity Colonial de France, au Comite" Colonial de Saint- 
Domingue .... far le Marquis de Gouy d' Arsy [Paris ? 1788 ?]. 

61 The above. 73-87. 

62 Ibid. 21-29, 34- 

62 a Lettre des Commissaires de la colonie de Saint-Domingue au Roi (Paris ? 
1788). It was sent 4 September to la Luzerne to deliver to the King. 



28 San Domingo secures Representation 

even to submit the question of their representation to the 
Assembly of Notables called in November, 1788, to de- 
liberate on the composition of the States General and the 
election of its members. 63 In spite of this rebuff they did 
themselves petition the Assembly of Notables." 

As soon as it was known in the island that the States 
General was called for May, 1789, the various classes of the 
whites were filled with enthusiasm, each hoping to derive 
some benefit from its meeting. Although the colonists had 
not been summoned to send representatives to the States 
General, demands were at once made on the Governor and 
Intendant for the convocation of assemblies for the election 
of delegates. Petitions with numerous signatures were sent 
in. 85 To all these requests the administrators returned an 
unfavorable answer — the only kind that was possible. It 
was out of the question for them to summon the colonists 
to elect delegates without orders from the home government. 
They said, also, that they did not know the real wish of the 
colony since many of the inhabitants were opposed to the 
incorporation of the colony in the nation, as was shown by 
petitions in opposition to representation. 66 

In spite of the prohibition of the Governor, assemblies 
were formed for the election of representatives. There was 
much dispute as to the extent to which these assemblies 
really represented the people. Garran says that they rep- 
resented the planters only, and that the gatherings were 
largely secret. 67 Edwards says that when the Governor at- 
tempted to prevent the provincial and parish meetings 
which were everywhere summoned, his proclamations were 
treated with indignity and contempt. 68 It is claimed by 
Charmilly, however, that many citizens doubted the advis- 
ability of being incorporated in the French nation ; that 
there were few assemblies held ; that lists came out from 

93 Premiere Denunciation Solemnelle a" un Ministre faite a V Assemble Na- 
tionale en la personne du Comte de la Luzerne . . . par le Comte de Gouy . . . 
(Paris, 1790). There is an appendix Extrait des pieces justijicatives, °etc, 127. 

64 Premier Recueil de Pieces Lnt/ressantes, remises par les Commissaires de la 
Colonie de Saint- Domingue a Mm. les Notables, les 6 Novembre, ij88 (Paris ? 
1788 ?) 

86 Lettre bien importante de la chambre d' Agriculture de Saint-Domingue, 
adress/e aux Membres du Comit/ Colonial ; s/ant a Paris (Paris ? 1788 ?) and 
Appendix to the Denunciation cited above, 23, 26, 27, 35. The number of 
signatures was put at 4,000. 

66 See Lettre quoted in reference 65 : 15. 16 ; appendix to Denunciation of 
reference 63 : 25, 29 ; Clausson, 26 ; Garran, i., 45,46. 

61 i., 46. 

68 iii., 39. 



in the National Assembly% 29 

Europe all made out and were signed in secret ; that many 
signatures were false and that many proprietors (of whom 
he was one) protested against the election. 69 There seems 
to be no doubt that the delegates elected did not represent 
all the planters although they were subsequently recognized 
by the provincial assemblies as representatives of the 
colony. Madiou says that even as early as this the planters 
began to talk of independence but I find nothing in the 
contemporary authorities to support this statement. It is 
possible that there may have been vague talk of a separa- 
tion from France especially among the planters like Char- 
milly who were opposed to the sending of delegates to the 
States General. 

However, there were elected eighteen delegates, being six 
for each province ; of these delegates a large number were 
colonists resident in France. From a letter written in San 
Domingo, 20 February, 1789, we can learn all the steps of 
this election. The basis of the proceedings was said to be 
"the imprescriptible rights, acquired by all men, of occu- 
pying themselves peaceably with their common interests." 
Primary assemblies were formed in the parishes which chose 
electors with full powers. The latter met in the capitals of 
the provinces, edited their cahiers and elected delegates to 
the States General. 70 Of the seven delegates who, accord- 
ing to this letter, were elected from the Province of the 
North, 71 four were already members of the colonial com- 
mittee in France ; one other was a resident of Paris but 
not a member of the Committee ; and two were at the time 
of the election residents of the island. The latter did not 
reach Paris until July. 78 Those in Paris, however, continued 
their efforts to secure admission to the Tiers Etat. 

Their cahiers show us that the object of the planters was 
not to spread the ideas which inspired the Revolution but to 
secure the erection of their caste into a privileged aristoc- 
racy. They demanded that no one should participate in the 
government except the great proprietors ; that France should 
leave to the colony the right of self-government ; that the 
administration should be in the hands of the planters ; that 

69 48. 

10 This letter was printed in a pamphlet entitled Que Ceux qui ont une 
Ame lisenl ceci (Cape [San Domingo] 1789). See also Pr/cis sur la Position 
actuelle de la Deputation de Saint-Doming tie, aux Ittats Ge'ne'raux (Paris ? 

1789 ?)• 

71 The number of delegates elected was usually stated to be six from each 
province. Probably an agreement was made after the elections to limit the 
number to six in each province and thus some retired. 

7J Placide-Justin, 176. 



30 San Domingo secures Representation 

they alone occupy the chief offices and have the proposal 
in the colonial assembly of laws which should subsequently 
be ratified by a colonial committee in France ; that the 
courts of justice should be open to them and that a seat in 
these courts for a certain time should be rewarded by a title 
of nobility." 

It was one thing to elect delegates to the States General 
but entirely different to secure their recognition by that 
body. All through the early months of 1789 they were 
presenting themselves at the electoral assemblies in Paris in 
order to bring their cause before the prospective members 
of the great representative body. 74 But their efforts do not 
seem to have resulted very successfully. I find only three 
cahiers which mention their claims in any way. The clergy 
of Paris extra muros, lb the clergy of Paris intra muros 71 and 
the third estate in Paris" demanded that the representatives 
of San Domingo be given seats and the nation represented 
in its integrity. The nobility were opposed to the admis- 
sion of the colonial delegates to their own body, naturally 
not recognizing the island aristocracy as a real nobility. 

Not until the eighth of June did any degree of success 
crown the untiring efforts of the San Domingans. The 
minutes of the Commons relate that on that day the depu- 
ties of San Domingo presented themselves and demanded 
provisional admission. They were granted seats without 
votes until their rights and powers should be settled. 78 
When the roll of the Commons was called on the twelfth 
and thirteenth, the colonial deputies called attention to the 
fact that their names were omitted but obtained no more 
satisfaction than had been given them on the eighth, being 
instructed to submit their credentials which would be con- 
sidered at the proper time. 79 

The twentieth of June was a great day not only for France 
but for the planters of San Domingo. The famous oath of 
the Tennis Court had scarcely been taken when President 
Bailly announced that the bureau of verification had re- 
ported unanimously for the provisional admission of twelve 

73 Garran, i.,47,48. These cahiers were not published until the follow- 
ing October and then caused the downfall of the committee which drew 
them up. 

"Garran, i., 48. 

15 Archives, v., 233, article 18. 

"Ibid, 266 art. 3. 

" Ibid, 282 art. 31 ; 302 art. 7. 

"Ibid, viU., 81. 

19 Ibid, 99. 



in the National Assembly. 31 

delegates from San Domingo. The Assembly ratified this 
action and the delegates took the oath. 80 It is evident that 
the colonial representatives had shrewdly taken advantage 
of the tendencies of the time. We can easily understand 
how on that solemn and important occasion the Tiers Etat 
allowed their feelings to get the better of their judgments. 
In a few days their love of liberty and desire for emancipa- 
tion of the enslaved wherever found made them examine 
more carefully the claims of the delegates of San Domingo 
who had been admitted provisionally to the number of 
twelve. On the twenty-seventh the chairman of the bureau 
of verification reported that careful examination of the 
questions relating to the admission of the delegates from 
San Domingo had been made. There were three points to 
settle, namely, had the colony the right to any representa- 
tion ; was the election of the delegates legal ; and what 
number should be admitted. During this day's debate the 
tendency was strongly toward an increase of the delegation 
to twenty. On the third of July the debate was resumed, 
the first speeches being of the same tenor as those of the 
week before. But Mirabeau arose and in his eloquent and 
stirring manner argued that such action was utterly incon- 
sistent with the principles of the Revolution. He pointed 
out that there was no law or tradition which would give the 
island a representation ; that those presenting themselves as 
delegates did not represent the island since the free people 
of color had no share in the election ; and that the number 
twenty was too large since the slaves were regarded simply 
as property. He thought the colony should be allowed a 
representation in the National Assembly but this would not 
be on account of an old right but by act of legislation. 
Four delegates were, in his opinion, all the colony was justly 
entitled to. 

Gouy d' Arsy made an able reply pointing out that the peo- 
ple of France knew the colonies only very imperfectly ; and 
that the colored people were not summoned because laws 
made in France excluded them from the franchise. But 
Mirabeau was too influential and the report was sent back 
to the committee which on the next day recommended that 
the number of delegates be two for each province or six in 
all. This report was adopted by a large majority, and on 
the seventh the San Domingans announced that Cocherel 
and Gouy d' Arsy would represent the province of the 

80 Ibid, 138. 



32 San Domingo secures Representation 

West ; Thebaudiere and 1* Archeveque Thibaut, that of the 
North ; and Perrigny and Gerard that of the South." 

But, as Mirabeau said, these men did not really represent 
the colony. Not only were the slaves, making up nine-tenths 
of the population, and the free people of color who were 
one half of the remainder, unrepresented but many of the 
whites were greatly dissatisfied. There can be no doubt, 
however, that these delegates were continually recognized as 
such by the colonial assemblies however much discontent 
may have been felt. 83 The chief opposition proceeded at 
first from another source, namely, some of the large body of 
colonial proprietors who were permanent residents in Paris. 

A detailed account of the' manner in which this opposi- 
tion became organized would involve us in a discussion of 
the great anti-slavery agitation then going on in England 
and France. In France Montesquieu, Raynal and Neckar 
had exposed the evils of slavery, and in that country the 
movement assumed in 1789 large proportions, resulting in 
the foundation of the society " Amis des Noirs " whose ob- 
ject was to secure abolition. Among its members were 
Mirabeau, Rochefoucauld, Condorcet, Petion, Brissot, La- 
fayette, Robespierre and Gregoire. Clarkson gives an in- 
teresting account of his visit to Paris and his intercourse 
with these men. 83 The circulation of translations of Clark- 
son's writings and his plans of slave-ships aroused opposi- 
tion to the society in Paris and the commercial towns. 
Clarkson was told that abolition of the slave-trade must wait 
for the Revolution, since agitation for enfranchisement of 
the slaves would turn some against the greater movement. 
Mirabeau and Lafayette were for immediate consideration 
of the question, but after canvassing the Assembly it was 
found that only one-fourth of the members would support 
the cause, so it was concluded that it would be inexpedient 
formally to introduce the matter at that time. 

In the face of such danger for their cause many of the 
supporters of slavery were strongly opposed to the Revolu- 
tion since they saw its progress promised to result in enfran- 
chisement. Partly, then, from fear and partly from jealousy 
they opposed the colonial committee and the deputation 

81 Ibid, 164 sqq., 186 sq, 189 sq, 205. The eighteen delegates voted to re- 
main united, and agreed that the votes of the six should be governed by the 
decision of the eighteen. Garran, i., 50. 

82 Garran, i., 51, 52. Archives, viii., 190. 

83 History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the 
African Slave Trade by the British Parliament. Chap. XXV, 



in the National Assembly. 33 

of planters admitted to the Assembly. They were, in many 
cases, privileged persons and members of the nobility so 
that the adherence of the delegates to the Tiers Etat in the 
oath of the Tennis Court increased their hostility to them. 
This pro-slavery party was in sympathy with those planters 
in the island who like Charmilly opposed the sending of 
representatives to the States General. The deputies, on 
the other hand, wished that there be decreed by the As- 
sembly for the colony a constitution by which local affairs 
should be in the control of colonial assemblies, while laws 
on commerce and external relations should be concerted 
with France. The other party saw safety from the radical 
ideas of the time only in absolute independence of the 
National Assembly. Only the king had rights of govern- 
ment over the colonies, for they were not a part of the na- 
tion. The Minister of Marine and the Court supported this 
view. 84 The headquarters of this party were at the Hotel 
Massiac. Their Club Massiac was at first known as La 
Socie'te' des Colons Francais Assemblies a Paris. Not until 
the events of July and August seemed to threaten imminent 
danger to slavery did the two factions unite. 86 

^Garran, i., 53. 

85 Garran, i., 54, 55. Clausson, 27. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE PEOPLE OF COLOR BEGIN AGITATION. 

In Paris the Revolution progressed rapidly. The Fall of 
the Bastile, the Fourth of August and the Declaration of 
Rights of the Twentieth of August marked its course. This 
declaration in saying that men are born and live free and 
equal in rights and that these rights are liberty, property, 
personal safety and resistance to oppression revealed the 
great changes that were being introduced. The slave own- 
ers were naturally disturbed by so sweeping a statement, and 
this famous declaration caused great disturbance in the 
colony. 86 Mirabeau's paper, the Courrier de Provence, com- 
mented upon it as follows : " We did not think that the 
moment was so near when the great cause of the liberty of 
the negroes wrapped up in that of general liberty of the 
human race would be solemnly established, avowed and 

sanctioned by the National Assembly After having 

grandly propounded this principle, the National Assembly 
will not shun the most just and most legitimate of conse- 
quences .... which will say to the negroes, which will say 
to the planters, which will teach all Europe that there is not, 
there cannot be more in France or in any country under the 
laws of France other than free men." 87 Owing to the re- 
newed efforts of Clarkson and his friends the cause of aboli- 
tion was making rapid progress out of the Assembly as well 
as in it. 

It was evident that those interested in the preservation of 
slavery must unite and, if possible, remove colonial affairs 
from the control of the National Assembly to that of some 
local body in which the slave interests would be safe. 88 

Before this there had been some talk of a colonial assem- 
bly. On the twenty-ninth of July the deputies from San 
Domingo had declared that the colony wished to derive the 
power to organize such a body only from the National As- 
sembly, and requested the king to take no steps in this mat- 

88 Dumourrier, Sur les Troubles des Colonies et I' unique Moyen d' as- 
surer la Tranquillity, la Prosperity et la Fidelite" des ces Dependences de I' Em- 
pire (Paris, 1791), 10. Edwards, iii., 43. 

81 Volume ii., No. 30. 

88 Clausson, 27; Garran, i., 56. 



The People of Color Begin Agitation. 35 

ter without the authority of the latter body. To these re- 
quests the king assented on August eleventh. On the other 
hand the Club Massiac had asked the king to convoke a 
colonial assembly without the recognition of any power in 
the National Assembly over the dependencies. On August 
twenty-ninth they petitioned the king to convoke the colo- 
nies to form provincial electoral assemblies which should 
choose delegates to a central assembly. 

The two factions now came together and after consulta- 
tion with the Minister of Marine a measure was drawn up, 
made a law by the Council and dispatched to the island. 
The colonial assembly was to consist of seventy-two mem- 
bers chosen by the proprietary planters owning twenty 
slaves or an estate worth a hundred thousand livres. Voting 
by proxy was allowed so that the planters in Paris could exert 
considerable influence. This assembly was not invested with 
final authority but was to advise with the king. The recon- 
ciliation between the Club Massiac and the deputies does not 
seem to have been thorough, for the latter opposed this 
measure and proposed another plan no more democratic in 
the basis of representation, but in other respects more in ac- 
cordance with their wishes since it was to be summoned by 
provincial committees and not by the governor. 89 In all 
these measures there had been no recognition of the power 
of the National Assembly and it was not until October 
twenty-seventh that the government called its attention to 
colonial affairs. 

There has been more or less obscurity and contradiction 
in the different accounts given of the manner in which the 
mulattoes endeavored to secure recognition and equality of 
rights with the white citizens of the island. The evidence 
seems very contradictory upon some points but the new ma- 
terials in the Archives Parlementaires enable us to get a re- 
liable and tolerably complete account of the proceedings of 
the people of color. 

On the twenty-second of October, 1789 "a deputation of 
citizens, people of color, proprietors in the French colo- 
nies " 90 appeared at the bar of the National Assembly and 
demanded that they be allowed to enjoy all the privileges 
of citizenship, not as a favor, but as a natural right. M. de 
Joly acted as their spokesman and made an eloquent plea 
for his fellows. In behalf of the people of color he pre- 
sented the state six millions of francs, and declared they 

89 Garran, i., 56-60. 

90 Archives, ix., 476. 



36 The People of Color Begin Agitation* 

were ready to mortgage their property to one-fifth of its 
value in order to pay the debts of the state. This address 
is signed by ten persons including Raimond and Oge. The 
President responded that "no part of the nation would ask 
its rights from the Assembly in vain." The deputation was 
granted sittings as spectators and their petition laid on the 
table. 91 

Who were these delegates and how were they chosen ? 
Madiou says that after the news of the admission of the six 
delegates had reached the island " the people of color . . . 
chose among themselves deputies who repaired to France 
and presented themselves to the Constituant." 92 La Croix 
says ; " Some men of color were . . . authorized to pass to 
the continent in order to plead their cause." 93 " There ar- 
rived in Paris men of color sent into France to defend their 
rights and interests " is the statement of Placide-Justin. 94 
Clarkson gives a lengthy and interesting account of a dinner 
at Lafayette's where he met these men who, he says, had ar- 
rived only the preceding day from San Domingo. " Believ- 
ing that the mother country was going to make a change in 
its political constitution, they had called a meeting on the 
island and this meeting had deputed them to repair to 
France." They had put on the dress of the National Guard 
and had induced Lafayette to accept an appointment as 
commander-in-chief over their fellow-citizens. 95 

It might seem that this was fairly conclusive evidence of 
their having been duly elected in the island. But Madiou 
and Placide-Justin were not contemporary writers and La 
Croix knew personally only of the later part of the Revolu- 
tion in the island. Clarkson's report is on the face of it 
open to suspicion as regards some details. It is improbable 
that, after a long voyage from San Domingo, the delegates 
should in twenty-four hours have put on the dress of the 
National Guard, been invited to dinner by Lafayette and in- 
duced him to accept the honor of commander-in-chief over 
them. Clarkson was especially interested in learning their 
attitude toward the slave trade and probably paid little at- 
tention to statements concerning the manner in which the 
delegates were chosen. It is probable that some of them 
had very recently come from the island unofficially. Clark- 
son might easily confuse statements made in a foreign lan- 

91 Ibid, 476-478. 
92 i., 35- 

93 i., 15. 

94 p. 178. 

86 His History, etc. 387, 388 of the edition (London, 1839). 



The People of Color Begin Agitation. 37 

guage and extend to all statements which applied only to 
individuals. The testimony to their having been elected in 
the island is then untrustworthy. 

On the other hand the evidence that they were chosen 
from and by the people of color residing in Paris is conclu- 
sive. Their original address already mentioned evades any 
statement upon this point. 96 Oge and Raimond, at least, 
were in Paris during all this period and could not have come 
there as representatives from the colony. A large number 
of colored colonists had resided in Paris for years, among 
whom Raimond had been very prominent in his efforts in 
behalf of his race, both free and enslaved. 97 Oge had come 
to Paris that year, probably in the middle of the summer. 98 
Although the petition of the people of color was sent to the 
committee of verification and was not reported back by 
them we have in the Archives several papers bearing upon 
this point, one of them being a letter addressed by the citi- 
zens of color who had appeared before the Assembly to the 
above named committee. The white colonists had made 
objection to the admission of these delegates on various 
grounds, and this letter attempts to answer the objections. 
After showing how circumstances and the prohibitions of 
the whites prevented more regular measures, they say: 
" From the lack of these primary and local assemblies, from 
the lack of a colonial meeting which it was not possible for 
them to summon, the citizens of color newly arrived and 
actually resident in France assembled to consider their 
interests ; . . . they elected deputies and these presented 
themselves in the National Assembly." 99 The letter says 
that eighty colonists were present when these proceedings 
were taken. It is signed by six persons, all of whom were 
signers of the original address presented on the twenty- 
second of October. 100 

To anticipate the course of events it may be said that the 
delegates were never admitted to the Assembly for several 
obvious reasons. Such admission would have been class 
legislation, would have implied that the delegates already 

96 Archives, ix., 477. 
91 Garran, i. , 121. 

98 Ibid, ii., 43 : Madiou, i., 53. 

99 Archives, x., 331, 332. 

100 Extrait du Prods- Verbal de V Assemble des Citoyens Libres et Proprie- 
taires de Couleur .... (Paris, 1789). This gives an account of an attempt 
made by the colored people to arrive at some understanding with the plant- 
ers of the Club Massiac. Also Raimond, Veritable Origin des Troubles de 
S. Domingue et les differentes causes qui les ont produit (Paris, 1792),* 15-18. 



38 The People of Color Begin Agitation. 

seated were not real representatives, and would have aroused 
the opposition of the commercial classes to the whole course 
of the Revolution. 101 The committee of verification to which 
the letter was referred drew up a report favoring the admis- 
sion of two deputies to represent the people of color ; but 
their spokesman on attempting to present it to the Assem- 
bly was several times met by such an uproar that he was 
obliged to give up the attempt. 102 

The representation of the colony in the National Assem- 
bly was then practically settled by the first of December, 
1789, at six delegates who were really elected by a small 
proportion of the white inhabitants of the island. The ex- 
treme views with regard to equality and universal suffrage 
did not prevail. The colony was still regarded as a depend- 
ency entitled to a certain degree of self-government not to 
be assumed as a matter of course, but to be granted by the 
Assembly. 

101 For argument against demands of the mulattoes see Archives, x., 333- 
335. On 329 is an interesting letter purporting to be from the free negroes 
claiming equal privileges with the mulattoes. " The negro is the issue of a 
pure blood ; the mulatto on the contrary is the issue of a mixed blood ; he 
is a compound of black and white, a sort of adulteration. Accordingly it 
is as evident that the negro is much above the mulatto as it is evident that 
the pure gold is above mixed gold." 

102 Raimond, Veritable Origin, 19. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION IN THE COLONY. 

The severity of the winter of 1788-9 in France, and the 
terrible evils that resulted from it, have been graphically set 
forth by two of the brilliant historians of our time. 103 The 
almost complete destruction of the harvest in the mother 
country threatened the island with famine unless corn could 
be obtained elsewhere. There was too little at home, and 
the Parliament of Bordeaux at least had forbidden the ex- 
port of grain to the colonies. 104 To avert famine it seemed 
best to the Governor, Du Chilleau, to throw open the ports to 
the importation of food stuffs. 105 According to the existing 
laws only lumber, live cattle and salted beef could be im- 
ported, and these only in three ports of entry. 

But the planters, always hostile to the existing trade regu- 
lations, made this scarcity of bread an excuse for an attempt 
to secure greater general freedom of trade. Relief from the 
threatening famine was secured by an ordonnance issued by 
Du Chilleau, 31 March, and duly registered 1 April, by the 
Superior Council, granting permission to import bread and 
foreign grains. 106 Du Chilleau had succeeded la Luzerne as 
Governor when the latter had been called to France to be- 
come Minister of Marine. He had been a military officer 
of some renown in the colonies and was much more in sym- 
pathy with the colonists than with the interests of French 
commerce. He lost the good will of the ministry but car- 
ried back to France the regrets of the planters. 107 

108 Taine, The French Revolution (N. Y., 1878), i. , 1-5. Lecky. History 
of England in the Eighteenth Century (N. Y., 1878-87). v., 426, 427. 

104 Clausson, 31. 

106 There was much discussion as to the necessity of this measure. It 
would seem to have been imperative. See e. g., Replique des deputes des 
manufactures et du commerce de France a Mm. les de'pute's de S. Domingue, 
concernant V approvissionnement de cette colonie (Versailles, 1789?); Demiere 
Reponse de M. de Cockerel de'pute' de S. Domingue a Messieurs les de'pute's du 
Commerce (Versailles ?) ; Precis remis par M. le Marquis de Gouy d' Arsy 
aux Commissaires auxquels V Assemble Nationale a renvoy/ V examen .... 
(Versailles, 1789) ; and Appendix to Denunciation of la Luzerne, 87-90. 

108 Arrit du Conseil d" £tat du Roi Portant cassation d' une Ordonnance de 
M. le Marquis du Chilleau, Gouverneur, Lieutenant-g/ne'ral de Saint- D mingue , 
du 27 Mai dernier, concernant V introduction des farines e'frangeres 2j fuly, 
17S9, (Paris, 1789.) 

101 Clausson, 31, 32 ; Garran, i.. 43 ; Dalmas i., 20, 21. 



40 The Beginning of the Revolution in the Colony. 

Barb6-Marbois had been Intendant since 1785, so that he 
had worked with la Luzerne when the latter was Governor. 
Before this he had been Consui-General to the United States 
and had married a daughter of Governor Moore of Penn- 
sylvania. During the latter part of his life he played quite 
an important part in the political affairs of France. His 
administration of the finances was very successful not only 
in the introduction of system but in securing a surplus of 
receipts over expenditures. 108 By his strict execution of the 
colonial policy he gained the enmity of many. 109 La Lu- 
zerne's administration is said to have been weak and in- 
active. 110 He certainly gained while Minister of Marine the 
intense dislike of the colonists, who made the most bitter 
accusations against him. 

On the ninth of May Du Chilleau, having granted per- 
mission to foreign vessels to import bread and grain tempo- 
rarily, went a step farther toward satisfying the wishes of 
the planters, by issuing an order granting permission to 
foreign ships to introduce into three ports of the southern 
province for the space of five years, slaves, grain and other 
articles of general value to this part of the island, to be paid 
for in sugar and other commodities produced in the island. 
In spite of Marbois' remonstrance 111 this Ordonnance was 
put in force. According to the laws governing the relations 
of the governor and intendant his remonstrance should 
have vetoed it. lia On 27 May appeared another Ordonnance 
which really opened temporarily all the ports of the island 
to the importation of bread and foreign grains, and allowed 
free exportation of colonial products. 113 There was much 
discussion at the time in regard to the danger of famine" 4 
but Du Chilleau had certainly transcended his powers. 

108 Barbe-Marbois £tat des finances de Saint-Domingue contenant le resume" 
des recettes et defenses de toutes les caisses publiques, depuis le 10 Nov. 1785, 
jtisqu'au ier Jan. 1788 (Port-au-Prince, 1788). Also the same for the year 
1788 (Port-au-Prince, 1789). Also M/moire laissd par M. Barbe" de Marbois, 
Intendant d Saint-Domingue (Bordeaux, 1789?). Other copies were printed 
at Port-au-Prince and at Paris. 

109 Dalmas. i., 25, 26 ; Garran, i., 42. 

110 Dalmas, i., 25. 

111 Remonstrances de M. de Marbois, Intendant de Saint-Domingue contre I' 
arret d' enregistrement de V acte intitule" ; " Ordonnance de M. le Gouverneur 
G/n/ral concernant la liberie" du commerce pour la partie du sud de Saint-Do- 
mingue." (? 1789 ?) 

'" Arrit du Conseil d' £tat du Hoi, qui casse et annule une Ordonnance du 
Gouverneur-ge"ne"ral de Saint-Domingue du 9 Mai dernier . . . (Paris, 1789). 

118 See Reference 106. 

114 See e. g., Derniere Rtyonse de M. de Cockerel, etc. (reference 105) and 
Archives, viii., 528, 553 ; x., 17. 



The Beginning of the Revolution m the Colony. 41 

Marbois was supported by the Minister of Marine, the gov- 
ernor's acts were annulled 115 and Du Chilleau soon replaced 
by Count de Peinier. 116 So the separation between the of- 
ficials and the planters was increased by the recall of the 
Governor who had shown sympathy for the cause of the 
latter. The successor of Du Chilleau, Peinier, was a mem- 
ber of an old French family, an officer of some rank and 
distinction in the navy and a firm supporter of the monarchy. 
He reached the colony in September having received the 
decoration of the grand cross of the order of St. Louis 
before leaving France. 1 " 

Already the lines were sharply drawn between the parties 
in the colony. The Petits-Blancs were the real revolutionary 
party, desiring an overthrow of all privileged classes, and 
closely in sympathy with the radical wing in the National 
Assembly. The planters desired no social change and sup- 
ported the existing order of things with one exception. 
They wished that the island should have self-government. 
The official class and those supporting it were strongly at- 
tached to the cause of the old regime and opposed to any 
measures that could bring even a degree of home-rule for 
the colony. 

Either because it was a natural method of procedure or 
because some knowledge of the American institution had 
reached them, the colonial proprietors had organized Com- 
mittees of Correspondence which kept up communication 
with each other and with their sympathizers in Paris. But 
these committees represented only a part of the planters. 
The Governor had made an attempt to prevent the extension 
of this secret organization by an order prohibiting more than 
five persons assembling at a time. Such a prohibition was 
of course completely useless. These committees had se- 
cured the election of the delegates accredited to the Na- 
tional Assembly. The people of color had begun secret 
correspondence among themselves and with their friends in 
Paris. 118 As yet there were no excesses in the island and 
the old order of things was outwardly unshaken, as was the 
case in France. But the fall of the Bastile revealed in colony 
as well as mother country the weakness of the old regime. 

As soon as the news of this event reached the colony, 
there were the same signs of the presence of the revolution- 
ary spirit that had been seen in the metropolis. The 

116 See Arrits cited in references 106 and 112. 

116 Appendix to Denunciation of la Luzerne, sq. 73-84. 

117 Garran, i., 43. U8 Madiou, i., 34. 



42 The Beginning of the Revolution in the Colony. 

tri-color cocade was everywhere worn, even the officials 
being compelled to carry it ; some who expressed opposition 
to the new ideas lost their lives; the militia was remodelled 
in imitation of the National Guard. With feverish haste 
the people enrolled themselves in the companies, influenced 
greatly by their fondness for military display, decorations 
and titles. 119 The abolition of feudal privileges on the fourth 
of August was celebrated in the city of St. Marc by a Te 
Deum. This fete resulted in considerable lawlessness. 120 

It was the Declaration of Rights of the twentieth of Au- 
gust that first awakened people to a consciousness of the 
fact that diversity of interests might necessitate different 
methods of procedure in the metropolis and colony. They 
saw that slavery was threatened. The anti-slavery agitation, 
too, was at its height in Parts, where Mirabeau and Gregoire 
were exerting all their efforts for immediate emancipation. 
" We are in the greatest fear in this country," writes a colo- 
nist, " concerning the negroes. Is it possible that the na- 
tion can demand their liberty? It desires then to renounce 
the colonies." 121 Both this letter and an earlier one 122 threaten 
vengeance upon those who are reported to be on their way to 
the island to stir up revolt. Charmilly says, " the twentieth 
of Augustwas the day when the destruction of San Domingo 
and of the other colonies was pronounced, and when three 
hundred thousand men of all colors were condemned to 
death." 123 Edwards 124 and Rainsf ord 126 agree with this view. 146 
Dumourier insists that all other causes assigned for the dis- 
asters that came to the island were of no consequence and 
that the anti-slavery agitator, hasty and imprudent, was the 
sole cause of trouble. This movement alarmed not only 
the colonists but the inhabitants of the maritime cities, all 
interested in the commerce of France, and the friends of 
the constitution. A large number of petitions for a com- 
mittee to consider the affairs of the dependencies was sent to 

119 La Croix, i. , 12. 
120 Garran, i., 74. 

121 Moniteur, 1790, 146. Letter dated 5 Nov. .1789. 

122 Ibid, 46. 

m 49- 

124 Hi., 42, 43. 

126 An Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti ; comprehending a 
view of the principal transactions of the Revolution with its ancient and modern 
state (London, 1805), no. 

126 La Croix, i., 15, says that the government officials in the island, after 
the Declaration favored the admittance of the people of color to the enjoy- 
ment of the provisions as the best means of opposing the pretensions of 
the planters. If this is true, it must have increased both the fear of a 
social reorganization and the hatred of the planters for the government. 



The Beginning of the Revolution in the Colony. 43 

the National Assembly. 187 To ascribe to the promulgation 
of this declaration of rights all the troubles that ensued is to 
overestimate its effect, but it hastened the conflict that op- 
posing interests rendered inevitable. 

The city of Cap Francais, then the most influential place 
in the island, was especially under the influence of the revo- 
lutionary ideas. There originated the first definite move- 
ment against the representatives of royal authority. Mar- 
bois, by his careful administration, support of the colonial 
policy and fidelity to the king, had won the hatred of the 
planters. 138 Conscious of this he had planned his departure 
from the colony, when an adventurer named Chesneau, or 
Chesnaud, early in October arrived at the Cape from France 
and declared that Marbois had been recalled in disgrace by 
the National Assembly. Chesneau was protected by the 
people of the city against the attempts of the authorities to 
arrest him. He was subsequently proven to have robbed 
the mails. 

The chief opponents of the royal authority in the city, led 
by Bacon de la Chevalarie, an unscrupulous intriguer, de- 
termined to take advantage of this occurrence for the ac- 
complishment of their own ends. They increased the hos- 
tility to the officials by false reports, asserted that the slaves 
were to be freed, and then in the midst of all the excitement 
and disorder, suggested that a march be made to Port-au- 
Prince, the seat of the government, in order to seize Mar- 
bois. The commander of the royal troops at the Cape, by 
spreading reports of slave insurrections in the country, suc- 
ceeded in delaying the expedition long enough so that 
Marbois could take ship for France on October the twenty- 
sixth. 1 " Although a vigorous attempt was made to find ir- 
regularities in the intendant's accounts, none could be dis- 
covered and his published statement showed that the finances 
of the colony were in a satisfactory state. 130 Other officials 
at this time, thinking themselves in danger, after a time of 
concealment escaped to France. 131 

From participation in the proceedings following the news 
of the fall of the Bastile, the free people of color were ex- 

121 Sur les Troubles des Colonies, etc. (Paris, 1791), 10, II. 

128 Moniteur, 1790, 46. 

129 Moniteur, 1790, 46 ; Garran, i., 75-77 ; Dalmas, i., 24-34. 

130 Me"moire laisse" par M. Barb/ de Marbois, Intendant a Saint-Domingue 
(Bordeaux, 1789). His successor published a statement showing not only 
that there was no irregularity in Marbois' accounts but that the finances 
had been admirably managed. Moniteur, 1790, 820, 

131 Garran, i., 78. 



44 The Beginning of the Revolution in the Colony. 

eluded. A report that Moreau de Saint-Mery, a supporter 
of the anti-slavery ideas, had been appointed intendant 
aroused a storm of indignation. 133 

All these proceedings were not without guidance and di- 
rection. Although the history of the committees and early 
assemblies which directed the course of events is quite ob- 
scure, and will probably remain so, on account of the lack of 
minutes of their transactions, which were, in a great degree, 
secret, the important facts about their organization are 
known. The electoral assemblies, which met in each prov- 
ince immediately after the calling of the States-General, late 
in 1788, had, upon their dissolution, appointed committees 
which should sit in the chief places of the provinces and 
have general control of the interests of the planters. They 
were to draw up cahiers, correspond with other committees 
and take such measures as might be necessary to forward 
the Revolution in San Domingo. They were called Provin- 
cial Committees, but did nothing publicly during the first 
half of 1789 on account of the laws against the formation 
of any such bodies. But when concealment became no 
longer necessary they usurped authority and announced 
their existence, that of Port-au-Prince, for instance, " send- 
ing notice to the administrators of the colony, 18 October, 
of its act of organization of the 25 January." 133 The pro- 
vincial committee of the North with its seat at the Cape, was 
especially active until it ventured to publish its cahier de 
doleances which had been sent to the deputies at Paris. 
This document was so favorable to the interests of the 
planters and so contrary to the principles of the Revolution 
that a storm of indignation compelled the committee to 
promise to convoke the people for the election of delegates 
to a provincial assembly. 134 

This assembly met on the first of November, 1789, includ- 
ing among its members many of the old committee. The 
committee continued to exercise a general control over the 
affairs of the province by request of the newly assembled 
legislature until the end of the month. Both bodies re- 
nounced the cahier 13i and the indignation aroused by its 
publication gradually died away, so that the assembly did 
not expel the members of the committee, as the people had 

132 Moniteur, 1790, 146 ; Garran, i., 107-108. 

I33 Garran, i., 71, 72. 

134 Gaterau, Histoire des Troubles de S. Domingue depuis le mois d' October, 
ijSQfjusqu 'au 16 juillet, ijgi (Paris, 1792), 6. Dalmas, i., 30. 

185 Minutes of the Committee as quoted by Garran, i.,, 81. Moniteur, 
1790, 243. 



The Beginning of the Revolution in the Colony. 45 

demanded, but even passed them a vote of thanks for their 
general devotion to the interests of the colony. On the 
thirtieth of November the assembly declared itself perma- 
nent and formed an executive bureau which should supplant 
the old committee. 

The real attitude of this assembly, many of whose leading 
spirits became later the most prominent members of the 
General Colonial Assembly, may be seen from an enumera- 
tion of some of its early legislative acts. 136 It took the oath 
of fidelity to the nation, the law and the king 137 and had the 
same administered to the civil authorities and troops with- 
out orders from France. It pronounced its members in- 
violable, and declared that the powers of government for the 
province of the North were vested entirely and exclusively in 
the body of deputies. 138 Allowing the constituted authori- 
ties to continue the exercise of their powers it declared that 
" these authorities could give no order concerning the public 
safety, or tending to deprive any citizen of his liberty except 
in concert with the Provincial Committee." It recognized 
the militia and gained complete control over it ; 139 assumed 
control of the public moneys, whether purely local or those 
belonging to the national government 140 and asserted its " full 
powers in all that concerned the internal administration of 
the province. 141 Books, papers and manuscripts could be 
imported and sold only with its consent. 143 

In the other provinces the course of affairs was similar to 
that in the North. The province of the West was the seat 
of the royal government, which had a more or less repres- 
sive influence upon the revolutionary party. There were 
also objections in this province to the assumption of 
power by the provincial committee, composed, as it was, 
principally of residents of Port-au-Prince, but not until 
January, 1790, did a provincial assembly meet. It delegated 
supervision of provincial affairs to the reorganized committee 
of Port-au-Prince which played a part in this province simi- 
lar to that of the assembly in the North. It further in- 
duced the governor and the troops to take the oath, and 
agreed to recognize the deputies at Paris as delegates of the 

136 Garran, 83 sqq ; Moniteur, 1790, 243. 

131 Minutes of the Assembly of the North, 2 Nov. 1789. Quoted by 
Garran. 

138 Ibid, 3 Nov. 

139 Ibid, 18 Nov. 

140 Ibid, 25 Nov. and 22 Dec. 

141 Ibid, 4 Jan., 1790. 

142 Ibid, 7 Dec, 1789. 



46 The Beginning of the Revolution in the Colony. 

province. 143 The province of the South followed the ex- 
ample of the others but much more slowly, its assembly 
meeting at Cayes, 15 February. It assumed control of the 
finances of the province and levied a tax of thirty sous for 
each slave. 144 

With the example of the National Assembly before it, 
the colonial government could not take violent measures 
against the local assemblies and committees. The protests 
of the governor were of little avail. He implicitly recog- 
nized the authority of the National Assembly in declaring 
that many of the claims and proceedings of the local legis- 
lature were contrary to the early decrees of that body. The 
response shows the attitude of the colonists, for they re- 
jected these laws as binding upon them on the ground that 
the " deputies of San Domingo were not yet at the Na- 
tional Assembly when the decrees had been passed." 146 

The extravagances of the provincial assemblies and com- 
mittees increased the number of those who supported the 
Governor, especially in the West. Here Peinier formed 
an organization called Pompons Blancs, to support the old 
authority. 

There was great hostility between the Assembly of the 
North and the Superior Council which sat at Port-au-Prince. 
This Tribunal, it will be remembered, was the only higher 
court in the colony and the consolidation of the Council of 
the Northern Province with it in 1787 had caused much dis- 
satisfaction. This island Parlement declared all the acts of 
the Assembly of the North null and void 146 and ordered it 
no longer to interfere in the administration. In return the 
latter body, 4 January, 1790, declared the acts of the Su- 
perior Council annulled and re-established the Superior 
Council of the Cape, on the ground that it had been 
illegally suppressed. The installation of this body was 
celebrated on the sixth by a fete in which, rather strangely, 
the officers of the royal regiment stationed in the city took 
part. 147 Tne Superior Council of Port-au-Prince sent to the 
Minister of Marine an indictment of its rival, but the Na- 
tional Assembly referred the matter to a committee which 
seems never to have reported it. 148 In a letter to Peinier, 

143 Garran, i., 89. 

144 Ibid, 90. 

146 Lettre dcrite a M. de Compte de Peynier, G/n/ral de St. Domingue par V As- 
semble Provinciale de la Partie du Nord (1790 ?), 2. 
146 Moniteur, 1790, 243. 
141 Garran, i., 88. 
148 Archives, xi., 790. 



The Beginning of the Revolution in the Colony. 47 

30 December, 1789, the Assembly of the North defended its 
action on the ground that he, the governor, had failed to carry 
out his orders from France. It insisted that the colony had 
of its own free will attached itself to France under the ex- 
press condition that it should be subject to no tax or change 
of government without its own consent. 149 

On the seventh of January, Bacon de la Chevalarie, who 
was President of the Assembly of the North, wrote to 
Peinierthat he would not be recognized as Governor until 
he should take the oath prescribed by national law, and that 
all that was necessary for the convocation of a colonial as- 
sembly was the agreement of the three provinces. 160 La 
Chevalarie was made captain-general of the national troops. 
In the West also there were signs of disaffection and on 
January thirteenth the electors of the West ordered the 
royal officers to delay the execution of every new law of 
the National Assembly until the convocation of a colonial 
assembly. Peinier consented to this. 1 " He seems to have 
been lacking somewhat in decision and constancy, and 
had lost his main support in Marbois. At this time he was 
more favorably disposed toward the people of the island, 
assisted several times in the sittings of the Provincial Com- 
mittee of the West, and took an oath never to march the 
troops against the citizens except at the request of the mu- 
nicipal officers or of the committee. 1 " 

During all this period the people of color were quiet ; but 
as the planters resident in Paris perceived in August, 1789, 
the growing inclination to give all free citizens, regardless of 
color, equal rights, they stirred up their constituents to per- 
secution and outrage. They instructed them to arrest sus- 
pected persons, seize writings " where even the word Liberty 
was mentioned," distrust people of color from Europe and 
hinder their re-embarking for France. These instructions 
were subscribed to by all the delegates except Gerard, who 
said the surest way to preserve slavery was to gain over the 
free people of color. 163 This despised class had been admit- 
ted to the primary assemblies which elected delegates to the 

149 See reference 145. From the first the colonial party maintained this 
view very strongly and constantly. All the memorials of the colonial com- 
mittee of France and the writings of Gouy d' Arsy are full of this theory. 

160 Moniteur, 1790, 243. 

151 Ibid. 

152 Relation authentique de tout ce que s'est passe" h St. Domingue avant et 
aptes le de'part forcd de V Assemble coloniale (9 Aug., 1790), 4. 

163 Raimond, Veritable Origin des Troubles de S. Domingue et des differente 
causes qui les ont produits (Paris, 1792), 6-1 1. Text of the letters. 



48 The Beginning of the Revolution in the Colony. 

provincial assemblies, 154 but the letter of the deputies so 
terrified the whites that the colored people were at once ex- 
cluded from all participation in political matters and sub- 
jected to outrage. 165 The people of color of Petit-Goave 
presented to the local committee an address demanding their 
rights, but the feeling of the planters was so bitter that Fer- 
raud de Baudieres, a senechal of the place and president of 
the committee, who had drawn this address was murdered 
for favoring the pretensions of the lower caste. For similar 
offences Lacombe, a colored man of the Cape, and Labadie 
of Aquin were killed, while others were subjected to gross 
outrages. These murders occurred in November. Although 
a pretence was made of punishing those who committed 
them, nothing came of it and the Club Massiac approved of 
them. 156 Raymond says that the Petit s-B 'lanes were responsi- 
ble for these persecutions, and that on the receipt of news that 
mulattoes had arrived from Paris, the colored people were 
hunted in the woods like wild beasts. 157 The correspondence 
of the people of color was searched but was found free from 
fault. 168 The whites urged the Chambers of Commerce in 
France not to allow negroes and mulattoes to embark for 
the island. 169 The people of color could enter the militia or 
national guard but were forbidden by la Chevalarie to elect 
their own officers. 160 It was most unfortunate that the Cre- 
oles were not more far-seeing and politic. Had the free 
people of color been given their political rights a strong op- 
position could have been made to all untimely efforts to free 
the slaves and the terrible blood-shed of later years avoided. 
The chief leaders of the revolutionary party in the prov- 
ince of the North were Bacon de la Chevalarie, who aroused 
the jealousy of the people by his intriguing disposition and 
his assumption of office after office ; and 1' Archeveque 
Thibaut. The latter had taken part in the oath of the 
tennis court and was one of the delegates admitted to the 
National Assembly. He resigned, on 24 August, 1789, how- 
ever, because of the changed state of affairs and because his 
constituents had sent him to to the States General, not to 

,84 Gaterau, 19. Raimond, Veritable Origin, n. 
166 Rallier, Nouvelles Observation sur Saint-Domingne (Paris ?) 8. 
He p or f u u description of these affairs see almost any of the histories, es- 
pecially Garran, i., 109-113. Raimond, Veritable Origin, 11-14. 
151 Archives, xxvi., 68. 

168 Garran, i., 113. 

169 Raimond, Veritable Origin, 20, 21, where the text of a letter written 
the Chambers is given. 

160 Moniteur, 1790,243. Gaterau, 23,24. 



The Beginning of the Revolution in the Colony. 49 

the National Assembly. 161 On his return to the colony he 
was at once admitted to the assembly of the North and took 
an important part in its proceedings. 

The rivalry between Chevalarie and Thibaut broke out 
soon after in a bitter dispute in the Assembly, in which each 
accused the other of murderous intentions. A bodily en- 
countre was prevented by force. Thibaut secured the dis- 
solution of Chevalarie's staff. The forts in the possession of 
the royal troops were by order of the Assembly handed over 
to the patriotic troops of Chevalarie. But soon tiring of 
this garrison duty, the citizen soldiers besought the regulars 
to resume control of the fortifications. By the loss of his 
staff and of the forts Chevalarie's influence was greatly di- 
minished. 163 Everywhere there was dissension and it was 
high time that an attempt should be made to establish some 
central authority. It was hoped that this would be brought 
about by the calling of the Colonial Assembly. 



161 Garran, i., 119, 120. 

162 Gaterau, 37, 38. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE CONSTITUTIONAL BASIS FOR THE COLONY. 

The essential features of the plan for a Colonial Assembly- 
concerted by the planters resident in Paris and la Luzerne 
were that planters alone should be regarded as citizens, that 
the Assembly should be convened by the orders of the royal 
governor, and that the authority of the National Assembly 
was in no way recognized. The colonial deputies had sug- 
gested a plan which did not recognize the authority of the 
colonial administration. Not until 27 October, 1789, did 
the question of the relations of the colonies to the mother 
country come before the National Legislature. On that date 
there was read to the Assembly a memoir from the ministers 
to the king, calling attention to certain subjects requiring 
consideration. Noting the great differences between France 
and her colonists, it points out that many laws passed are 
not suited to the colonies, although, being passed for the 
whole nation, they must be enforced everywhere ; that tem- 
porary laws are frequently necessary for the colonies on ac- 
count of the remoteness from France, and that the adminis- 
tration should be in the hands of those empowered to exer- 
cise it at once as necessity might arise. 163 The memoir was 
sent to the Committee on Commerce. 

On the twenty-sixth of November, M. de Curt, deputy 
from Guadeloupe, in the name of the united colonies, moved 
that a committee of twenty, one-half deputies of the colonies 
and the other half deputies from the maritime cities especially 
interested in commerce and manufacturing, be appointed to 
consider all matters which related to these important pos- 
sessions. 164 This motion was in the interests of the colonial 
delegates whose power would be greatly increased by the 
appointment of such a standing committee. Blin of Nantes, 
a member of the Club Massiac, opposed the measure, 
claiming that the delegates did not represent the colony. 
Cocherel, the only one of the six deputies from the island 
who supported the Club Massiac, maintained the view that 

163 Mihnoire adressif par les ministres du roia V Assemble Nationale, le 27 Oc- 
tobre, i7$q. (Paris, Royal Printing House), and Archives, ix. , 592. 

164 Archives, x., 263-267. Printed separately as Motion de M. de Curt, 
depute' de la Guadeloupe au nom des colonies r/unics. (Paris, 1789). 



The Constitutional Basis for the Colony. 5 1 

San Domingo was not a colony, having of its own accord 
and upon certain conditions, made an alliance with France. 196 
Further he asserted that it was not a French province since 
its natural conditions and the existence of slavery (which 
he represented as a philanthropic means of transferring the 
negroes from the horrors of their native homes to the de- 
lights and safety of civilization) prevented its being governed 
by the same constitution as France. He called it a Franco- 
American province, and said that it should have a constitu- 
tion composed partly of the constitution of France and 
partly of measures necessitated by the peculiar characteris- 
tics of the colony. He claimed that this constitution must 
be drawn up by the inhabitants resident in San Domingo, 
and that the National Assembly might accept but could not 
reject or radically amend ; and that if it would not accept 
the constitution it might renounce all rights in the island 
but could do nothing that would conflict with the alleged 
original contract. The debate was resumed on the first of 
December. 166 Moreau de St.-Mery spoke in favor of the 
proposed measure. Blin spoke again for self-government in 
the colonies, and compared San Domingo to Ireland with 
its separate legislature although having a common monarch 
with England and Scotland. The colonists should make 
their own constitution and the proposed colonial committee 
should not be appointed. The debate was resumed on the 
second and third of December with speeches by Gouy de 
Arsy, 167 Abb6 Gr6goire, Abb6 Maury and others. It was 
finally voted that the committee be not established, 168 

Not until the second of March did the affair of San Do- 
mingo again come before the National Assembly. On that 

165 This claim was made first at least as early as the meeting of the Nota- 
bles before the convocation of the States General. Garran, i., 147. 
im Archives, x., 346-353. 

167 D'Arsy made a fierce attack on la Luzerne as hostile to the interests of 
the colony. La Luzerne felt called upon to defend himself, asking through 
Vicomte de Mirabeau that his administration be investigated. Archives, x., 
356) 357. 362-364. These charges against la Luzerne were frequently made 
by the colonists and especially by d'Arsy. Archives, xvii., 211 ; xviii., 561 ; 
also Lettre et declaration des deputes de Saint-Domingue a I' Assembl/e Na- 
tional adress/e & leur commettans ; also Nouvelles extremement importantes 
arriv/es hier a Paris and Opinion de M. le marquis de Gouy d'Arsy. The for- 
mal denunciation of la Luzerne by the deputies of San Domingo was drawn 
up by Gouy d'Arsy and, with appendix containing much documentary evi- 
dence, covers three hundred printed pages. It has already been frequently 
cited. Charges of all kinds of tyranical conduct were made. No man was 
more bitterly hated in San Domingo than the Minister of Marine who rep- 
resented all that was distasteful in the old regime. 

168 It may be observed that the restrictions on colonial trade were an 
active cause of discontent. Archives, x., 17-37 ! xi., 2, 38, 40-42 jviii., 553. 



52 The Constitutional Basis for the Colony. 

date were presented papers giving an account of the course 
of events in the island. 169 Colonial affairs were referred to 
a committee of twelve with orders to report on the eighth. 170 
As the debate and action of that day mark an epoch in the 
history of San Domingo, it will be well to consider first the 
course of events leading to the calling of the Colonial Gen- 
eral Assembly. 

We have seen that there were as many factions in France 
as in the island. The extreme royalists wished the colony 
to remain under the absolute, exclusive authority of the 
king ; the Club Massiac claimed that the king and a Colo- 
nial Assembly should govern and that the National Assem- 
bly had no concern with the dependencies ; the colonial depu- 
ties bitterly opposed the idea that the king and his ministers 
should have any control over the colony and, although 
recognizing as yet the power of the National Assembly, they 
wished this to be surrendered to a committee composed of 
themselves and the delegates from the commercial cities so 
that they might support the power of the planters against the 
people of color. The greater part of the Assembly was sus- 
picious of all these parties, judging that the interests of 
France as well as those of the free mulattoes demanded that 
the control of the island should fall into the hands of no 
faction. From reasons of humanity many favored the 
people of color, with whom the royal party was inclined to 
unite in order to gain strength against the planters, the bit- 
ter enemies of the royal prerogative. 

The plan of the ministers for a Colonial Assembly ap- 
proved by the Club Massiac had been sent to Peinier accom- 
panied by a letter of instruction. A duplicate of this letter 
sent by the way of the Cape was seized by the Assembly of 
the North and opened. In it la Luzerne instructed Peinier 
" to influence, by way of persuasion the opinions of the mem- 
bers who compose the Colonial Assembly to prevent or 
to moderate any heated feeling." 1 The publication of this 
letter and the proposed plan of convocation aroused a storm 
of opposition in the colony. The indignation was directed 
as much against the Club Massiac as the ministry. The de- 
nunciation of la Luzerne by the deputies was approved by 
the electors of the West and the Assembly of the North. 
The Club Massiac was censured and its members ordered to 

lee Partially described in the last chapter. 

™ Archives, xii., 2-6. This " colonial committee" should not be con- 
fused with one bearing that name appointed the year before by resident 
colonists to represent their interests. 

111 Garran. i., 91 ; Archives, xii., 2. 



The Constitutional Basis for the Colony. 53 

return to the colony or suffer confiscation of their property. 
The Assembly of the North also protested against the Na- 
tional Assembly's passing measures for San Domingo, and 
declared that the local legislature must regulate the govern- 
ment and constitution of the colony. 172 

The three provincial assemblies rejected the plan of a 
colonial assembly on the ground that the ministry had ex- 
ceeded its powers, and the Assembly of the North declared 
the action of the Governor calling the colonial assembly for 
the fifteenth of March illegal. Correspondence followed 
looking to the calling of a general assembly by the pro- 
vincial assemblies themselves. On the twenty-fourth of 
December, the Assembly of the North wrote to the com- 
mittees of the South and West saying that as they all agreed 
on the necessity of an assembly, they ought to consider 
details. It declared that the colony was an " ally " not a 
"subject " of France and revealed no willingness to submit 
to the National Assembly. 113 

The plan of the Assembly of the West, agreed to by the 
others declared that " the deputies should be elected by the 
primary assemblies of each parish by the citizens domiciled 
there for a year and paying taxes. No one should be per- 
mitted to vote by proxy." The North was to send eighty 
deputies, the West seventy-four and the South fifty-eight, a 
total of two hundred and twelve. In order to avoid the in- 
fluence of the government at Port-au-Prince, the Assembly 
was summoned to meet at St. Marc, twenty-fifth of March, 
1790. 114 Such were the views of the colonists. Let us now 
consider the action meanwhile taken by the National As- 
sembly. 

Among the members of the colonial committee appointed 
on the second of March was Barnave, who was its chair- 
man. He favored the Club Massiac 175 and opposed the peo- 
ple of color. The committee drew up and reported on the 
eighth of March a measure which satisfied the colonial depu- 
ties, the commercial cities and the National Assembly gen- 
erally. In his speech introducing the measure Barnave 
dwelt upon the importance of the colony to France, upon 
the injury done by the advocates of emancipation and upon 
the importance of avowing that the Declaration of Rights 

112 Garran, i., 92, 93. 
173 Ardouin, i. , 121, 122. 

114 Garran, i., 94, 95. 

115 Garran says that he resided with the Lameths (wealthy colonists), and 
implies that he may have been bribed by the planters, i., 128. 



54 The Constitutional Basis for the Colony. 

of the Twentieth of August did not mean the abolition of 
slavery or equal rights for the people of color. The decree, 
prefaced by a preamble declaring that the colonies are a 
part of the French Empire, but that it had never been in- 
tended to comprehend them in the constitution decreed for 
the kingdom, or to subject them to laws incompatible with 
their local circumstances, declares that each colony may 
make known its wishes in regard to constitution and ad- 
ministration by the existing colonial assemblies or such as 
may be immediately called; that the decree upon munici- 
palities and administrative assemblies shall be sent to the 
colonies for their consideration ; and that the colonial as- 
semblies may suggest such amendments to the prohibitive 
laws on commerce as seem to them desirable, these not to 
become laws, however, until after an expression of opinion 
from the commercial cities and the approval of the Assem- 
bly. It closes with a declaration that no changes in slavery 
shall be made and that the nation relies upon the patriotism 
of the colonists. 

The report was received with applause, and when Mira- 
beau attempted to speak his voice was drowned by cries of 
" aux voix ! aux voix !" The decree was adopted nearly 
unanimously. 176 

The planters had by skillful intrigues and alliances, and 
by Barnave's eloquence, won a great victory over the amis 
des noirs, the National Assembly having declared that the 
new order of things, so threatening to the castes in the colo- 
nies, did not extend to those places. Further by allowing 
existing assemblies to make representations upon the form 
of constitution best suited to the interests of the colonies, 
and by speaking of assemblies elected by the citizens, it ex- 
cluded the people of color, for in the existing colonial as- 
semblies they were not recognized, and it was strenuously 
maintained by the planters that the free colored people were 
not citizens. 

The latter class knew that something must be done to 
protect their interests so seriously endangered. The people 
of color in the island had been quiet so far, because they 
thought that the ideas of the new era would secure them 
equality. If they were deceived a revolt might follow. The 

1,6 Archives, xii., 68-73. Opinions of Vicounte de Mirabeau and Petlon 
de Villeneuve upon the slave trade are annexed to the minutes of that ses- 
sion, 75-94. Mirabeau advocates a retention of the existing order of things 
both as regards the slave trade and commercial restrictions with investiga- 
tions and laws to correct abuses. 



The Constitutional Basis for the Colony. 5 5 

colored people of Paris petitioned the Assembly and made 
representations to the colonial committee, saying that in the 
instructions which were to accompany the Decree of the 
Eighth of March there must be some recognition of their 
rights of citizenship. 1 " Raimond says, that from the first 
these instructions were so vague that interminable quarrels 
between the two classes of free people were inevitable. To 
the demands of the people of color, Barnave answered that 
the Assembly could use no words which would recognize 
class distinctions, but finally consented to change " citoyens" 
to " toutes personnes." The deputies, according to Rai- 
mond, wrote to the colony that these words should be in- 
terpreted to mean whites only. 118 

The instructions were simply regulations which should 
govern the summoning of a colonial assembly or the con- 
tinuance of such as might be found existing when the 
instructions should reach the island. As a general principle 
the colonial committee decided to made no innovations in 
the relations of the classes, but to allow the colonists to 
settle the question for themselves on the ground that they 
were most interested. 

On the twenty-third of March Barnave reported this meas- 
ure providing for the proper execution of the previous de- 
cree. The fourth article provided that " all persons twenty 
five years of age, owners of real estate, or, in default of such 
property, domiciled in the parish for two years and paying 
a tax should meet to form the parish assemblies." These 
parish assemblies should elect delegates to a colonial assem- 
bly. The twelfth article provided that if there should exist 
in the colony a previously called colonial assembly and this 
did not of itself dissolve, the primary assemblies might de- 
cide whether this should continue or a new one be elected ; 
and if the majority decided for a new assembly, the gov- 
ernor should summon it. 119 

In the debate 180 Abbe Maury resented the view that the 
colony was an ally and not a subject, insisting on the unity 
of the nation. He opposed the granting of a constitution. 
After one or two speeches came a very curious evasion of 
the most important question in colonial politics. Abb6 
Gregoire called attention to the fact that article four was 
ambiguous and said " the deputies of the colonies inform 



177 jGarran, i.,|ji36. 

118 Veritable Origin, etc. , 23, 24. 

179 Archives, xii., 312-318. 

180 Ibid, xii., 318-324. 



$6 The Constitutional Basis for the Colony. 

me that they do not intend to deprive the people of color 
of their eligibility, and I forbear speaking on condition that 
they will renounce the aristocracy of color." Cocherel re- 
plied : " They did not say that and I protest against the as- 
sertion in the name of my province." After a little discus- 
sion in which it transpired that Arthur Dillon of Martinique, 
speaking for that island only, had made the statement 
referred to, the Assembly voted not to discuss the question. 
Gr6goire at a subsequent time said that Barnave told him 
plainly that, the terms used in the article being general, the 
people of color were included. 181 Garran accepts Gr6goire's 
statement. 182 

Thus the Assembly refused to consider the question above 
all others needing settlement. The decree literally inter- 
preted would admit the free people of color to the exercise 
of the suffrage ; but the traditions and customary law of the 
island were against any such concession. It is evident that 
the colonial deputies did not intend that the colored people 
should be admitted to full citizenship. The explanation of 
this evasive action of the Assembly is probably to be found 
in its unwillingness to do anything which might seem to be 
inconsistent with its Declaration of Rights and other enun- 
ciations of fundamental principles, while, at the same time, 
it was felt that no hasty action should be taken in settle- 
ment of a question affecting the commercial interests of 
France, 183 After further debate in which Gouy d' Arsy made 
another bitter attack on la Luzerne, 184 the measure was 
passed as presented by the colonial committee (28 March, 
I79Q)- 185 

181 Archives, xxvi., 16, 

182 i., 138. 

183 Garran, i., 137, says that Cocherel demanded formally that the people 
of color be excluded by name from the class of citizens ; that Reynaud and 
Dillon asserted that they already enjoyed the rights of citizenship ; that 
Gregoire insisted that they should be expressly included in article four ; 
that Barnave and several colonial deputies answered him that " c' etait le 
resultat necessaire de 1' article, qu' on ne devoit pas y mettre une enoncia- 
tion qui pourrait faire supposer que le droit des hommes de couleur etait 
contestable et conteste," and that the amendment was withdrawn. He 
cites contemporary papers but neither the Archives nor the Moniteur gives 
this account. 

184 In his speech he read letters showing the feeling in the colony. Bacon 
de la Chevalarie had become so unpopular that he had been obliged to re- 
sign the presidency of the Assembly of the North, in which place he was 
succeeded by Thibaud. He still retained command of the forces. Dal- 
mas, i., 42 ; Moniteur, 1790, 474. The speech and letters were printed sepa- 
rately under the title Opinion de M. le Marquis de Gouy d' Arsy, depute" de 
Saint-Domingue sur le re"tablissement du Conseil Superior du Cap, etc. Mars, 
1700. 

185 Archives, xii., 381-387. 



The Constitutional Basis for the Colony. 57 

Thus far then the National Assembly had done nothing 
to offend the planters and nothing to make effective, out of 
France, the ideas of liberty and equality. It had declared 
that the Declaration of Rights did not apply to the depen- 
dencies ; it refused to admit the people of color to citizen- 
ship. Far from giving the slaves their freedom, it refused 
the free people of color their political rights which even the 
Black Code of Louis XIV had granted. 186 The colonial 
deputies had won a signal victory and took the credit for it. 
In order to be able to protest against any measure that 
might be passed, they voted that no one of their number 
should belong to the colonial committee. When Gerard 
and Reynaud were elected members of it, Cocherel objected 
strongly to their acceptance. Gerard, however, always more 
moderate declared that his duty led him to accept. It is re- 
corded that " M. le Chevalier de Cocherel reclame vive- 
ment " which he often did, but in this case his objections 
availed not. 187 

In a letter to their constituents signed by all except 
Gerard the colonial deputies dwell upon the impossibility of 
" telling all the measures which they had been obliged to 
take " to secure the almost unanimous vote in favor of the 
Decree of the Eighth of March " nearly all the articles of 
which they had suggested to the colonial committee." They 
also claimed to have dictated the instructions of the Twenty- 
eighth of March. This great success they consider to be a 
result of having deputies in the National Assembly rather 
than envoys to it. It is thus they have secured a majority 
for a measure which " has forever removed the question of 
enfranchisement of the slaves, of the abolition of the slave 
trade and which has assured the happiness of their beloved 
country, by securing for it the right of making its constitu- 
tion and of presenting it, as a matter of form to the National 
Assembly which will decree it and to the king who will sanc- 
tion it." 188 So the deputies in Paris interpreted the decree. 

186 Articles 57-59. Placide-Justin gives this £dit'm full, 153-174, as does 
Madiou, iii., 442-451. 
181 Archives, xii., 19. 
188 Garran, i., 140-143. The letter is given at length. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE EARLY DAYS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 

On the twenty-fifth of March, 1790, the colonial assembly 
met at St. Marc and organized provisionally, but the tardy 
arrival of the members delayed the final organization until 
the fifteenth of April. It was composed principally of 
planters, with some retired officers, some lawyers and a few 
merchants, the latter coming almost entirely from the cities 
of Cap Franeais and St. Marc. Of the two hundred and 
twelve members, twenty-four were from Cap Francais, six- 
teen from Port-au-Prince, and eight from Cayes, each of the 
fifty-two parishes in the colony being represented by at least 
two delegates. Among their number were such men as 
Daugy, Advocate-General to the Superior Council, Attor- 
ney-General at the Cape and a leading spirit in all the revo- 
tionary movements that had occurred in the North ; Thi- 
baud whose return from the National Assembly and promi- 
nent part in the proceedings of the Assembly of the North 
have been described ; Bacon de la Chevalarie ; Valentin de 
Cuillon, Borel and others who had been conspicuous in their 
insubordination to the National Assembly. 189 It has not been 
sufficiently noticed that into the new Assembly were gath- 
ered the most active and turbulent spirits from the provin- 
cial assemblies. It consequently took on much such a char- 
acter as they had had before, while they, especially the 
Assembly of the North, changed in character. 

The newly gathered body took the title Assemble Ge'ne'- 
rale de la Partie Francaise de Saint-Domingue, thus repudi- 
ating the description " colonial " ; called its acts " decrees "; 
had placed on the walls of its place of meeting the motto 
" Saint-Domingue, la lot et la rot; notre union fait notre 
force" ; and took an oath to be faithful to the duties en- 
trusted to it ; but its members neglected to take the civic 
oath which had been decreed in France. 190 It ordered troops 
on the way from France to return. 191 Motions were made 
without arousing any objection or remonstrance that the 
deputies of the colony be ordered to abstain from the meet- 

ls9 Garran, vol. i., 162, 163. 
190 Garran, i., 164, 165. 
191 Ibid, i.,166, 167. 



The Early Days of the General Assembly. 59 

ings of the National Assembly until the General Assembly 
should have perfected its constitution and should be ready 
to present it to the National Assembly and the king for ap- 
proval " if it should be expedient to do so." 1 " 2 

It decreed that all letters and packages addressed to the 
governor and intendant, appearing to be from the ministers 
and to concern the administration should be opened in its 
presence. 193 It declared itself permanent, and its members 
inviolable 194 and organized committees to take charge of cer- 
tain lines of business. For these acts they had no warrant 
and such measures were inconsistent with the recognition of 
the supremacy of the National Assembly. 

The General Assembly was preeminently the representa- 
tive of the planters who made up the bulk of its members. 
Their pecuniary interests were opposed to those of France, 
and the prohibitive commercial regime not only prevented 
their seeking an advantageous market for their productions 
but made it impossible to buy manufactured goods cheaply, 
threatening them at this very time with famine or such high 
prices for bread that slavery would be unprofitable. They 
had no interest, they thought, in maintaining the then ex- 
isting relations with France. Beyond question the General 
Assembly was fully determined to recognize the power of 
the National Assembly as little as it could, and to make the 
royal government of the colony subordinate to itself. 

The greater part of the population probably approved of 
this policy, but in the Province of the North there was a 
different feeling. Cap Francais in this province was the 
chief port in the island and its merchants carried on an im- 
mense commerce, a source of wealth to the province. The 
commercial classes looked with fear on any movement that 
might unsettle trade. They were naturally conservative and 
a revolution meant ruin to them. So there arose a conflict 
of interests between the Provincial Assembly of the North, 
controlled by the merchants of the city, and the General 
Assembly, representing the planters of all the provinces. 
The way in which the two bodies received the Decrees of the 
Eighth and the Twenty-eighth of March first revealed this 
disagreement. 

The first information of the decrees reached the island 
unofficially, having been sent to the Assembly of the North 

193 Adresse prononce'e a V Assemble Nationale, stance du 30 Septembre au soir 
par les de'pute's des paroisses du Port-au-Prince et de la Croix-des-Bouquets, 
(Paris, 1790?), 6. 

193 Garran, i., 169, 170. Archives, xix., 547 sqq. 

194 Adresse cited in reference 192, 5. 



6b The Early Days of the General Assembly. 

by merchants of Nantes and the deputies of San Domingo. 
It was received by this Assembly with joy as great as that 
which its passage had given the merchants of France. Now 
it was felt that slavery was safe ; fetes and public ceremonies 
testified very generally to the relieved public opinion. 196 To 
be sure some claimed that the decree by saying " all per- 
sons " included the free people of color, but the universality 
of the expressions of satisfaction show that no such inter- 
pretation was made by the whites generally. The governor 
wrote subsequently to the inspectors of elections that the 
decree was not to be interpreted as admitting the people of 
color to the parish assemblies. 198 

A courier was immediately dispatched to carry the news 
to St. Marc, and even there it aroused at first applause. It 
was voted at once that, on the same day, the twenty-sixth 
of April, an address of thanks should be sent to the Na- 
tional Assembly for having concerned itself about the French 
islands in America ; but, before the official copy was signed, 
it was voted on the next day to delay this address of thanks. 
It was never sent. On this day also a member having moved 
that the decree be at once executed, it was voted inexpedi- 
ent to take action. 197 

The General Assembly passed all its acts as final decrees 
to be executed without the approval of governor or king. 
The basis of the constitution laid down by the National 
Assembly was disregarded, and laws were passed by the 
colonial legislature according to the forms it had itself pre- 
scribed. This body was to be a law unto itself. It passed 
laws against usury, 198 reorganized the judicial system, 199 and 
extended greatly the provisions of the act of the National 
Assembly upon municipalities. 800 The act prohibiting usury 
was a direct blow at the merchants and favored the planters 
who were the borrowing class. The reforms of the judiciary 
were distasteful to the lawyers. Thus the General Assem- 
bly antagonized the two classes that were especially strong 
in the Assembly of the North. In recognizing the muni- 
cipalities greatly increased police powers were put into the 
hands of supporters of the Assembly who thus were able to 
give that body great assistance. 901 

196 Dalmas, i., 50. Dumourier, 16. 

196 Ardouin, i., 130, citing Rapport de Garran sur J. Raimond en 1793, 14, 
20, and Rapport de Tarbe en iygi, 9. 

191 Garran, I., 167, 168, quoting minutes of the Assembly. 

,98 Placide-Justin, 186. La Croix, i., 39. 

199 14 May, 

* 00 Garran, i., 182. 

» 01 Ibid, 1., 182, 184. 



The Early Days of the General Assembly. 61 

On the Twenty-eighth of May the General Assembly 
passed on act setting forth the principles upon which the 
new constitution was to be based. In spite of opposition it 
was declared to have been passed unanimously . aos It was 
called Bases Constitutionelles de /' Assemble'e Generate , . 203 The 
lengthy preamble declares " that the right of legislating on 
the internal regime belongs essentially and necessarily " to 
the colony, and that a new contract must be made between 
France and the colony concerning their common interests. 
It also declares that all decrees passed by the National As- 
sembly without consulting the colony are not binding in 
the island. The first two articles declare that the legislative 
power in the internal affairs of the colony belongs to the 
General Assembly, and that decrees of the National Assem- 
bly have force only after having been accepted by the Gen- 
eral Assembly. Article VI declares that acts of the Na- 
tional Assembly in regard to commercial and other common 
relations shall not have the force of laws until approved by 
the colonial assembly. The king was to approve acts 
passed by the assembly and the power of the governor 
general was denied. The last article said, " the preceding 
articles as forming part of the constitution of the French 
colony of San Domingo shall be immediately transmitted to 
France to receive there the sanction of the king and the 
National Assembly." Two members of the General As- 
sembly resigned very soon after the passage of this measure 
on account of its unwarrantable provisions, and six deputies 
from the North refused to sign propositions which might 
be regarded as acts of revolt. 804 The best commentary 
upon this document will be found in the narration of the 
subsequent proceedings of this assembly. 

As has already been indicated Bacon de la Chevalarie had 
lost influence in the North on account of his policy, which 
was harmful to the interests of the merchant classes. He 
was elected president of the General Assembly, another 
evidence of the difference in policy between this body and 
the Assembly of the North. 205 From the first the latter 
body, accepting the Decree of the Eighth of March, pro- 
tested against the course of the General Assembly and its 

202 Ibid, i., 170. Moniteur, 1790, 1052. 

so3 D^ cre t j e i' Assemble Ge'ne'rale de la Partie Fran$oise de Saint-Domingue 
vendue a la unanimite" en sa stance du 28 Mai, rjqo. (Paris, 1790). The pre- 
amble is given by Garran, i., 171-177, and the body of the act by Placide- 
Justin, 183-186, and La Croix, i., 34-37. 

204 Dalmas, i., 51, 52. 

206 Moniteur, 1790,490. 



62 The Early Days of the General Assembly. 

assumption of sovereignty. On the seventeenth of May it 
had refused to accept the act of May fourteenth on the ju- 
diciary, and declared " that henceforth no decree will be 
promulgated which has not been previously communicated 
to the provincial assemblies, sanctioned by the governor- 
general and closed by these words ' saving the definitive 
decision of the National Assembly and the sanction of the 
king.' " Thus the issue was squarely joined. The North 
opposed a policy leading to independence, supported the 
National Assembly and recognized the authority of the 
governor. 206 

That the Assembly of the North did not stand alone is 
shown by the fact that the provincial assembly of the South 
(16 May) passed a resolution of thanks to the National As- 
sembly for its decree and entered into communication with 
the Assembly of the North. The act passed by this body 
on the seventeenth was ratified by several communities in 
the North, and parishes such asCroix-des-Bouquets, Arcaye, 
Petit-Goave, Fond-des-Negres and Anse-a-Veau (23 May) 
passed resolutions calling upon the General Assembly to 
give literal adherence to the decrees of the National As- 
sembly. 207 Against the decree of the twenty-eighth of May 
the Assembly of the North issued (1 June) a protest declar- 
ing incidentally that independence was very undesirable. 806 

Some weeks after the first information of the decrees of 
the National Assembly reached the island the official notifi- 
cation and copies were received (31 May). 509 In its letter of 
acknowledgement of the same date the General Assembly 
pretended to find sanction for its course in the fact that the 
initiative had been granted the colonies as regards their in- 
ternal affairs. 210 On the next day it declared that it retracted 
none of the principles declared 28 May but as public opinion 
seemed hostile, the purity of its intentions should be shown 
by allowing the people to vote on the continuance of the 
Assembly. It adhered to the decree of March the eighth 
" in all that was not opposed to the rights of the French 
part of San Domingo already established in part by the de- 
cree passed by the General Assembly the twenty-eighth of 
the past month" ! In accordance with the instructions of 

206 ArriU V AssembUe Provinciate du Nord de St. Domingue . . . . au Cap 
Francais, sJance du ly Mai, iyqo. Sur V extrait des registres des Deliberations 
de ladite AssemblJe (Cap Franjais et Bordeaux, 1790). 

807 Archives, xix., 549. 

808 Garran, i., 185-187. Afoniteur, 1790, 957. 

309 Garran is mistaken in saying June first. 

M° Ddcret referred to in reference 203, 16. 



The Early Days of the General Assembly. 63 

March 28th, " sans rien prejuges sur lesdites instructions," it 
invited the parishes to at once declare whether they desire 
the General Assembly to continue. 211 

In a letter to the National Assembly the General Assem- 
bly professes attachment to France 913 but in its private dis- 
patches to the deputies its tone is very different. It calls 
them " commissioners ; 213 orders them to recognize only its 
own decrees of 28 May and 1 June ; instructs them to pre- 
sent these acts to the National Assembly for its " accepta- 
tion " but to avoid all debate, and after the National As- 
sembly has accepted them to present them to the king for 
his " acceptation" Then they are to present to the king the 
decrees passed in regard to the internal affairs of the island. 
If, however, the Assembly did not approve of its acts, they 
are to take no further steps except to inform the General 
Assembly. 214 Soon afterward it ordered the deputies to sus- 
pend their functions until it should be decided whether it 
was advisable for the colony to maintain delegates at the 
National Assembly. 515 

The official news of these acts was given the National 
Assembly by Cocherel, 29 July. On motion of Barnave, who 
pointed out the illegality of these decrees, they were re- 
ferred to the colonial committee in spite of Cocherel's pro- 
test that there was no such committee. 21 " Much interest 
was felt in France about San Domingo and the Moniteur has 
much to say about the course of events there. There was 
apparently no doubt that the General Assembly was insub- 
ordinate and desired independence, but, said the Moniteur, 
" it is very important to prove that the colony of San Do- 
mingo is utterly opposed to the principles which its General 
Assembly has developed in its decrees of 28 May and 1 
June." 217 

There was evidence to show that in some measure this was 
true as we have indicated above. One parish is said to have 
recalled its delegates. 218 The Assembly scattered addresses 
throughout the colony, endeavoring to satisfy the people 
that it was in accord with the National Assembly. At Port- 
au-Prince it used force to influence a meeting called to con- 

211 Moniteur, 1790, 911. Archives, xix. , 551. 

212 Garran, i., 192. 

213 This term is used in several letters at this time. Garran, i., 196. 

214 Garran, i., 194. 

215 Moniteur, 1790, 929. Letters from San Domingo, 23 June. 

216 Moniteur, 1790, 877. 
211 Ibid, 1790, 903. 

218 Ibid. Same page as last reference and 911. 



64 The Early Days of the General Assembly. 

sider the continuance of the existing legislature, and in va- 
rious ways is charged with having attempted to influence the 
people into making a favorable decision upon its policy and 
acts. 119 The opposition to the General Assembly was least 
in the West and greatest in the North. This body passed 
various measures directed against the provincial legislatures 
and the governor. It declared the Superior Council at the 
Cape dissolved and ordered d' Oge, commandant for the king 
at Jacmel, to appear at its bar. 220 A motion for non-inter- 
course with the Assembly of the North was made but not 
put to vote. 221 

Finally it was decided to send commissioners to the Cape, 
nominally to attempt to bring about a reconciliation between 
the two bodies. Valentin de Cullion was chief of the four 
commissioners sent. The real significance of this visit will 
be perceived only when it is known that the municipal gov- 
ernment of Cap Francais was very hostile to the Assembly 
of the North and supported the General Assembly. The 
commissioners endeavored to arouse the municipal govern- 
ment to the destruction of its rival and by their inflamatory 
speeches excited the people. On one day such tumult was 
raised that the provincial assembly was driven from its hall 
but on the next it ordered the commissioners out of the 
province, and when they appealed to the municipality, drove 
them out, with the assistance of troops and citizens. 222 This 
embassy, then, had merely resulted in increasing ill-feeling. 

During June the voting of the parishes upon the question 
of the renewal of the General Assembly occupied the at- 
tention of all ; but the rival legislatures found a little time 
to fulminate against each other. Each ordered the people 
not to execute the other's decrees, and declared the other 
dissolved. The northern body threatened to send to France 
for trial 223 any members of the General Assembly caught in 
the province and the Assembly at St. Marc ordered two 
prominent members of its rival to be sent to France for 
trial. 224 

Upon the relations of the governor, Peinier, to the 
General Assembly at this time light is thrown by his let- 

219 Ibid, 923. 

m Moniteur, 1790, 1179. 1° a speech of Barnave, 11 Oct. 

251 Garran, i., 198. 

* 22 Garran, i., 199-203, gives a full account. Dalmas, I., 53, 54. Adresse 
de I' Assemble Provinciate de la Partie du Nordde Saint-Domingue a V As- 
semble Nationale. (Paris, 1790), 6, 7. 

223 Moniteur, 1790, 1015. 

254 Moniteur ', 1790, 997. 



The Early Days of the General Assembly. 65 

ters." 6 He wrote (27 April) that he wished to join it and 
be one of the citizens. The assembly expressed joy at his 
sentiments and asked him to open its sessions. He con- 
sented and expressed a desire that they might work together 
along the lines marked out by the National Assembly. On 
the twenty-ninth polite letters passed between them. The 
early acts of the assembly alarmed the governor, for only 
about two weeks after its opening session (13 May) he 
charged them with illegal assumption of power in summon- 
ing royal officers before them for trial," 6 and in ordering the 
intendant to come to St. Marc. The Assembly in its reply 
insisted that its acts and commands be obeyed. 

The governor's reply was a moderate, creditable letter 
defending his course and stating his position. The old con- 
stitution was in force until a new one should be adopted. 
He was willing to make concessions so far as his duty to the 
king permitted and to put into execution such acts of the 
assembly as seemed to him proper.'"' 7 The assembly insisted 
that the decree in regard to municipalities be put into execu- 
tion, but the governor refused and reminded it that it had 
no power until the parishes had voted to confirm and con- 
tinue it. 228 In many of the parishes municipalities were in- 
stituted without consent of the governor. 

It has already been noticed that the Act of 17 May passed 
by the Assembly of the North, revealed more friendly feel- 
ing in that body toward the governor than had previously 
existed. Letters between them lead to a definite under- 
standing. 229 Cambefort and Mauduit, two officers of the 
royal troops, are said to have worked with much zeal to se- 
cure this result, being earnest supporters of the royal 
power. 230 Henceforth the lines were more definitely drawn ; 
the government officials, the Superior Councils and the As- 
sembly of the North united in support of the king and 
National Assembly, in opposition to the General Assembly 
supported as will be seen by the greater part of the colony. 

225 Correspondence de M. le Ge'ne'ral avec\ V Assemble Gdn&ale de la Partie 
Francaise de Saint-Domingue, etc. (Bordeaux, 1790). Suite de la correspond- 
ence de monsieur le Gouverneur Ge'ne'ral, etc. 

226 Adresse, cited in reference 192. Campan, captain in the regiment of 
Port-au-Prince, had been ordered to appear at the bar of the house for dis- 
obedience. 

221 Correspondence de M. le Ge'ne'ral, etc., 16. On pp. 17-22 is found an ex- 
tract from the minutes of the Assembly of the South to the effect that the 
parishes had renounced its legislative authority. 

228 Garran, i., 208. 

529 Suite de la Correspondence de Monsieur, le Gouveneur General, etc. 

230 Dalmas, i., 44. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE RATIFICATION AND DISSOLUTION OF THE GENERAL 

ASSEMBLY. 

The voting upon the question whether the General As- 
sembly should be continued or a new one called, continued 
through June and was, as a general thing, orderly. 231 It was 
claimed that the election in Port-au-Prince was fraudulent, 
and some protests were made. 232 However the city voted 
for renewal by 486 to 84. 233 The members of the assembly 
exerted themselves to the utmost to secure the perpetuation 
of this body. They issued addresses to show that they 
were in harmony with the National Assembly. 234 Much in- 
terest was felt in France in regard to this struggle. 

The General Assembly won against the combined strength 
of its adversaries. Its policy was popular with the classes 
who had suffrage. In the South and West all but three 
parishes were said to have voted for renewal 235 and in Cayes 
the yote was unanimous, although one twentieth of the voters 
would have added the condition that the colonial legislature 
be required to conform to the decrees of the National As- 
sembly. 236 The total results are somewhat differently given 
by different authorities, but the following is perhaps as free 
from bias as any of the estimates. Of the fifty-two parishes, 
twenty with seventy-three deputies voted for unconditional 
renewal ; seven, with seventeen deputies voted for renewal 
on condition that the assembly conform to the decrees of 
the National Assembly ; thirteen, with forty-eight votes 
voted for a new assembly, and the remainder did not vote. 237 
Barnave gave different figures and claimed that the result 
was greatly misinterpreted and twisted. 238 Others made 

281 Moniteur, 179,0, 977, 

232 Ibid, 1790, 923 ; Garran, i., 212. 

233 Moniteur, 1790,977; A dress e cited in reference 192, 13. It is claimed 
that this result was obtained by fraud. 

234 Garran, i., 213, 214 ; Adresse cited in reference 192, 12, 13 ; Moniteur, 
1790, 923. This is very full. 

236 Moniteur, 1790,977. 

236 The same as last reference. 

237 Moniteur, 1790. 1x35. The Moniteur was, of course, opposed to the 
General Assembly, so probably did not err in its favor. 

288 Ibid, 1790, 1 185 ; Archives, xix,, 552. 



Ratification and Dissolution. 67 

similar charges. 239 But there can be no doubt that the colony 
supported the General Assembly and no explanation alters 
the simple fact that a majority of those allowed to vote fa- 
vored the stand which the representatives at St. Marc had 
taken. 

The Instructions provided that the governor should tabu- 
late the returns and announce the result ; but, without this 
formality, the General Assembly, 6 July, in a decree full of 
contempt for the National Assembly declared its continua- 
tion by a vote of thirty for dissolution, fifteen for condi- 
tional confirmation, one hundred and thirty-five for uncon- 
ditional confirmation and thirty-three not voting. 240 It at- 
tacked la Luzerne and ordered a public celebration for the 
Fourteenth of July. 241 It ordered the troops to take an oath 
of fidelity to itself and transmitted this decree to the 
governor indirectly through the Committee of the West. 
Peinier refused to publish it, saying there should be no inter- 
mediary between the representative of the king and the 
General Assembly and that the latter had no right, as yet, 
to make laws for the colony." 42 The response of the assem- 
bly was a fierce denunciation of Peinier, which was printed 
and scattered through the colony although not formally 
passed. 243 

On the thirteenth of July Peinier formally declared the 
vote and proclaimed the assembly renewed.'' 44 

Besides the royal troops there were in the colony many 
volunteers. As they were composed of inhabitants it might 
have been supposed that they would adhere to the Colonial 
Assembly after the ratification. But many of the soldiers 
were Petits-Blancs and hostile to the planters. Certain it is 
that the attempt to administer the new oath of fidelity to 
" the nation, the law, the king and the French part of San 
Domingo " was not in all cases a success. On the occasion 
of the great celebration on the Fourteenth of July the 
volunteers at St. Marc, center of the power of the assem- 
bly, refused to take the oath at the command of de la 

239 Adresse cited in reference 192, 13. 

240 Archives, xix, 552, 

241 Garran, i., 216-218. 

242 Archives, xix., 553. 

243 Garran, i., 220, 221. 

244 Archives, xix., 552. His announcement of the result was substantially 
that already given from the Moniteur. As the answers returned were not 
simply "yes" or "no" but were variously qualified and conditioned, 
there was a chance for difference of interpretation. This accounts for the 
discrepancies in the statements of the result. 



68 The Ratification and Dissolution 

Chevalarie. They shouted " Vive le Roi et V Assembly Na- 
tionale !" and declared San Domingo to be forever insepar- 
able from the mother country. 245 The writer of this account 
thought their action very significant and said that the volun- 
teer troops of St. Marc, Port-au-Prince and the Cape were 
in regular correspondence. In his opinion the union of the 
troops would prevent the evils threatening the colony 
through the General Assembly. The troops at Port-au- 
Prince supported the governor 246 as did the various volun- 
teer organizations of the North. The people of the Cape 
had dissolved the municipal government which had been 
such a tool of the General Assembly. The people of that 
city would not listen to a decree from the General Assem- 
bly in regard to the matter. 247 In the cities there were many 
opponents of the General Assembly ; the Petits-B lanes, the 
merchants, the lawyers had different interests from those of 
the planters. 248 

The triumphant ratification of the legislature at St. Marc 
was not followed by the success one might expect. In its 
early days it contended with the Assembly of the North, 
but then the governor was favorable. Now the officials, the 
Assembly at the Cape and the volunteers, or part of them, 
were united against it. The Governor could do nothing 
but oppose it. There chanced to be in the island a 
man well fitted to act as Peinier's chief adviser, the 
chevalier Mauduit Duplessis, colonel of the regiment of 
Port-au-Prince and commandant of the city. He had served 
in the American war and won praise from Washington. He 
was devotedly attached to the king and bitterly opposed to 
the Revolution. He had recently been with the Count d' 
Artois. The soldiers were warmly attached to him although 
he was a stern disciplinarian. 

The Pompons-B lanes still existed as an organization de- 
voted to the old regime. The Committee of the West is- 
sued an order dissolving it, but de Peinier then interfered 
and protected it. 249 The General Assembly then passed an 
act forbiding the existence of all corporations other than 
those permitted by the French constitution. 250 In spite of 

246 Moniteur, 1790, 1035. 

246 Moniteur, 1790, 1035, 1039. 

241 Moniteur, 1790, 1052. 

248 Per contra see Relation Authentique, etc., cited in reference 152, pp. 
11-13, where is given a proclamation of the commune of Petit Goa against 
Peinier. 

249 Moniteur, 1790, 1039. 
260 Archives, xix., 553, 554. 



of the General Assembly. 69 

its claim to supremacy in internal affairs, it now appeals to 
the French constitution in regard to a purely local matter. 
Garran points to this as one piece of testimony to the weak 
and undecided course henceforth pursued by the assembly. 
It published addresses at this time showing the same lack of 
confidence. 251 Here we have another illustration of the 
principle that in a contest between a legislative body trying 
to wield executive power as well, and a well constituted ex- 
ecutive, the latter will have the advantage. In San Domin- 
go the struggle was very short. 

The Assembly issued some decrees after this but they 
were of little effect. It ordered the intendant to turn oyer 
to its treasury 200,000 livres a month to be used in paying 
its members ; but he declared this impossible." 5 - They could 
not execute their decrees. 253 

Perceiving the weakness of the General Assembly, its ene- 
mies now began to take active measures against it. The 
Superior Council of Port-au-Prince investigated the murder 
of Ferraud-de-Beaudieres and other similar crimes. The 
tribunals in the North brought charges against Bacon de la 
Chevalarie. 254 The General Assembly ordered these judicial 
proceedings to be relinquished since they were not in ac- 
cordance with the decrees of the National Assembly. 256 It 
ordered the governor to come to St. Marc, with his officials 
and records. 256 He, of course, refused. The commissioners 
from St. Marc who brought this order were received coldly 
with great display of power. They reported that the bar- 
racks of the royal troops were being fortified and that force 
was apparently to be used. 257 The attendance upon the As- 
sembly began to decrease rapidly from resignations and 
absences. 

In the early summer there had been great scarcity of 
bread-stuffs. 258 On the 17 July the Assembly passed a law 
providing that all ports should enjoy the same privileges 
then accorded to the Cape, Port-au-Paix and Cayes, namely, 
the free importation of provisions and articles of prime ne- 
cessity; Both the governor and the Assembly of the North 
denied that there was necessity for any such action, the 

561 Garran, i., 229, 230. 

869 Adresse cited in reference 192, 17. 

863 Garran, i., 231. 

864 Ibid, i., 232, 233. 
855 Ibid, i., 233. 

266 Moniteur, 1790, 1039. 

851 Garran, i., 237. 

868 Moniteur, 1790, 889. 



70 The Ratification and Dissolution 

scarcity having been relieved. 259 The former refused to ap- 
prove of the bill. On the 25th July the Assembly passed 
a second decree providing that ships bringing provisions 
might take away in payment the products of the island, and 
that the municipalities should have charge of the execution 
of the law. This would have introduced the greatest possi- 
ble freedom of trade. 260 The passage of these permanent 
laws without the approval of the governor was entirely con- 
trary to the Instructions of March twenty-eighth. 261 

In San Domingo the old royal troops still remained under 
the control of the king's representative. The General As- 
sembly now followed the example of the National Assem- 
bly in an attempt to gain over and reorganize the regular 
troops. After preliminary acts confiscating powder maga- 
zines and munitions of war, it passed, 27 July, a law declar- 
ing the troops of the line disbanded and establishing in 
their place Gardes Nationales Solde'es de la Partie Francaise 
de Saint-Domingue. Officers and privates of the old organi- 
zations could enter the new by taking an oath of fidelity to 
the French part of San Domingo. Heavy bounties were 
promised and those who did not care to serve in the new 
regiments were promised transportation to France. The 
municipalities were to execute this law. 262 The troops at 
St. Marc accepted this arrangement, but elsewhere the 
troops remained true to their officers. 263 

The royal officers now determined to dissolve the Assem- 
bly at St. Marc by using the troops at Port-au-Prince and 
the crews of the men-of-war in the harbor, the Leopard, 
ship-of-the-line, and /' Engageante, frigate. The crew of the 
Le'opard, however, was very favorably disposed toward the 
General Assembly and looked upon the ship's officers as up- 
holders of the old regime. Becoming aware of the disposi- 
tion of the crew, Peinier and the Marquis de la Galis- 
soniere, commander of the naval forces, decided that the 
vessels should be removed from the vicinity. 264 Learning of 
this the General Assembly ordered them not to leave the 
harbor of Port-au-Prince. 265 The crew, hearing of this, re- 
fused to obey orders. La Galissonier and some of his offi- 
cers left the ship, and when they refused to return, at the 

859 Ibid, 1790, 1277. 

260 Archives, xix., 555, 556. Text of the act is given. 

261 Garran, i. , 240-243. 

262 Archives, xix., 556, 557. Text of the act. 

263 Garran, i., 248. 

264 Adresse, cited reference 192, 21, 22. 
™ Archives, xix., 557,558. 



of the General Assembly. 7 1 

dictation of the crew, the sailors made Santo Domingo, a 
lieutenant of the ship and Creole proprietor in the colony, 
commander. 266 The vessel soon sailed to St. Marc and was 
there received with most extravagant expressions of joy, 
being christened Sauveur des Franqais™ 

On the day after the meeting the governor issued a proc- 
lamation arraigning the General Assembly for its long-con- 
tinued acts of rebellion ; declaring it had allowed " formal 
motions of independence " to be made in its interest, and 
that independence was the end toward which it had been 
constantly working. He pronounced its members traitors 
and declared his intention of dissolving it by force. 268 

The Committee of the West with headquarters at Port- 
au-Prince was the most active assistant of the General As- 
sembly. The Governor and Mauduit determined to arrest 
its members, who had fortified their place of meeting with 
artillery and collected an armed force of several hundred. 269 
In the early morning hours of 30 July the plan arranged the 
day before was put into execution. Quite a skirmish took 
place but the forces of the committee were defeated and 
one of the committee captured. The others had taken 
refuge elsewhere. Mauduit was charged with having trailed 
in the dust the flags of Port-au-Prince " in a manner insult- 
ing to the Nation whose colors they bore." 210 This act was 
made much of later. 

While the Assembly of the North refused to recognize 
the authority of the General Assembly even after the vote 
of renewal, 211 it had come to an agreement with Cambefort, 
commander of the regiment of the Cape. They had sworn 
to work together against the enemies of the nation. On 
the 30 July before news of the governor's proclamation had 

266 Relation Autkentique, 15-19. Conduite de M. Santo- Domingue, com- 
mandant le vaisseau le Leopard, lue par lui-meme a /' Assemble Rationale le J 
Octobre, iygo, (Paris? 1790?) 

267 Relation Autkentique, 41, 42. Garran, i., 253-255. 

268 Moniteur, 1790, 1065. Archives, xix., 559, 560 ; also Peinier's ac- 
count, Moniteur, 1 790, 1277. 

269 There are several accounts of this affair, agreeing substantially. Ar- 
chives, xix., 660; Monitenr. 1790, 1065; Adresse, cited in reference 192, 
22-25 , Garran, i., 248-250 ; Relation Autkentique, 20-25. The latter is fa- 
vorable to the adherents of the committee. The account to a friend written 
by Coustard, second in command in the colony and an intimate friend of 
Peinier is interesting and gives facts not in other accounts. It was 
printed in Nouvelles de Saint- Domingue, No. 14, 1-4. This letter was dated 
30 July. Maudit told Coustard the details of which he was not personally 
aware. 

210 Garran, i., 251. 

211 Ibid, i., 257. 



*J2, The Ratification and Dissolution 

arrived, the Assembly of the North called upon Peinier 
to dissolve the Assembly at St. Marc and to call a new 
colonial assembly according to the Instructions. It sent a 
body of troops under Vincent to assist him, or, in case he 
did not see fit to proceed against their rivals, to seize the 
deputies from the North with all the papers and minutes 
and bring them to the Cape. 212 

When the news of the attack on the Committee of the 
West and of Peinier's proclamation reached St. Marc, 31 
July, there was great excitement. The Assembly deposed 
and proscribed the royal officials and appointed M. de Fier- 
ville, commandant at Cayes, governor. 213 Active measures 
were at once taken to fortify St. Marc. A number of 
parishes sent detachments of soldiers or promises of assist- 
ance in the first days of August, and among these were 
some from the Province of the North. 214 The municipalities 
of some of the larger places approved the governor's 
policy. 215 

The General Assembly issued an appeal to arms written 
in the exclamatory style of the period. 216 At a later time, 
however, it pretended to have been very unwilling to begin 
war, and in its Relation Authentique no mention is made of 
its proclamation. It passed some very absurd decrees and 
wrote to the colonial committee inveighing bitterly against 
its enemies. A sentence in their letter indicates that it had 
thought of a journey to France as a last resort. 2 " 

Although at Port-au-Prince all possible measures were 
taken to destroy the influence of the dissolved Committee 
of the West, Mauduit avoided the shedding of blood. By 
a court martial one hundred and twenty-seven soldiers of 
the regiment of Port-au-Prince, who at St. Marc had joined 
the forces of the Assembly, were condemned to death, but 
the sentence was never carried out. 

218 Archives, xix., 562-564. 

273 Ibid, 561, 562. Relation Authentique, 29-31. Garran, i., 263. Adresse, 
cited in reference 192, 29-32. Fierville had betrayed to the General Assem- 
bly letters from la Luzerne. 

274 Relation Authentique, 36,41, 43. This ex parte statement alleges that 
the Assembly of the North contained only representatives from the Cape 
and four or five other parishes in the province, and that the other twenty 
parishes supported the General Assembly. It is certain that not all the 
parishes in the North were in sympathy with the body at the Cape. 

276 Relation Authentique, 59-71. Adresse, cited in reference 192, 32-34, 
39-43- 

276 Adresse, cited in reference 192, 27, 28 ; Garran, i., 264. Archives, xix., 
561. 

2 " Garran, i., 265,266. 



of the General Assembly. 73 

The army from the Cape, under Vincent, landed at Gon- 
aives. The Assembly at St. Marc, thus situated between 
the armies of Vincent and Mauduit, was in a dangerous po- 
sition. Attempts to reach an understanding with Vincent 
were unsuccessful. 278 Later the Assembly maintained that 
their position had been impregnable and that the course of 
action they pursued was dictated by a desire to save further 
bloodshed. But their decrees of the time show no such hu- 
mane feelings.' 219 The merchants and many other citizens of 
St. Marc were in harmony with the Assembly of the North. 
An agent of the Club Massiac wrote that the city was well 
fortified but that " it was to be wished that it had been as 
sure of its internal safety. It is estimated that it had more 
enemies inside than without." 280 

Decreased in number from two hundred and twelve to 
eighty-five, surrounded by enemies within and without the 
city, the General Assembly decided to appeal to the Na- 
tional Assembly. A profound admiration is said to have 
taken possession of the citizens upon hearing of this deci- 
sion, but they sent to Vincent a letter requesting him not to 
march against the city. They protested their devotion to 
the General Assembly. 281 On the afternoon of the eighth 
of August the deputies met in their old hall for a last ses- 
sion before embarking. Their families filled the seats re- 
served for substitutes ; the streets were crowded with citi- 
zens, some filled with despair and fear, others with joy. 
Amidst long lines of troops with cries of Vive la Nation / 
Vive la Roi ! Vive V Assemble Ge'ne'rale they marched to the 
shore and embarked on the Ldopard. On the next day a 
session was held on ship board, addresses to the parishes 
were voted and a general proclamation declaring the reasons 
for the action of the Assembly and its devotion to the Na- 
tional Assembly was issued. 282 In the evening at eight hav- 
ing taken on board the archives, the soldiers of the Na- 
tional Guard who had deserted from the troops-of-the-line 
and a few of their most pronounced adherents, they set sail 
for France. 283 

218 Relation Authentique, 45-48. 

219 Ibid, 48-54. Garran, i., 265, 266. 
280 Garran, L, 268. 

281 The Municipality wrote Vincent that they were faithful to the General 
Assembly. Dtpeches arrives de Saint-Domingue, le 2q Septembre, 1790, a I' 
adresse de V Assemble Ge'ne'rale de la Partie Francaise de Saint-Domingue a 
Paris, (Paris (?) 1790 ?) 

282 De'cretde I' Assemblte Ge'ne'rale de la Partie Francaise de Saint-Domingue , 
rendu h V unanimity en sa stance du 28 Mai, i"jgo, 17-26 ; Archives, xix., 
564-566. 

883 Relation Authentique, 57-59. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN FRANCE. 

"A courier officially come from Brest, the seventeenth of 
this month, at eight o'clock in the evening, informs us 
that the vessel the Leopard entered that port the fourteenth, 
having on board eighty members of the General Assembly 
of San Domingo, who embarked on her at St. Marc, the 
eighth of August, after the mustering of the troops-of-the- 
line and of the colonial volunteers, who marched under M. 
de Peinier, to dissolve the Assembly." Thus the Moniteur***' 
announced on the nineteenth of September, the arrival of 
the San Domingans. On the same day a similar announce- 
ment was made in the National Assembly, with the state- 
ment that the municipality of Brest had delayed the de- 
parture of a ship about to sail for the West Indies until 
further advices were received from the Assembly. 285 

The municipality of Brest gave the General Assembly a 
warm reception. A military procession, visits of deputations 
from learned societies, entertainment at private houses, the 
freedom of the theatres, enthusiastic applause aroused the 
hopes of the delegates. " I cannot recount to you all the 
evidences of affection which the city of Brest has given the 
colonists" wrote one of their number in a letter published 
in the Motiiteur.™ The comment of the Moniteur is sig- 
nificant : " Their letter does not tell how this indiscreet en- 
thusiasm has changed into disorder and insurrection. The 
landing from the Leopard is painted only in profile ; but the 
other face is only too well known." This allusion is to a 
serious mutiny that broke out in the fleet at Brest, and for 
which the Eighty-five have generally been held responsible. 
From the papers presented to the National Assembly by la 
Luzerne, however, it appears that there had been much dis- 
content among the sailors at Brest for two weeks before the 
arrival of the Leopard, on account of a new penal code gov- 
erning discipline and because of alleged irregularities in 
pay. 281 The arrival of the General Assembly with the news 
of the course of events in the island, including the revolt of 

584 1790, 1083. 
286 ibid, 1086. 
286 Ibid, 1 127. 
981 Ibid. 1790, 1063. 



The General Assembly in France. 75 

the crew of the Leopard, gave new fuel to the flames. Diplo- 
mas and medals had been given to the sailors of this ship. 388 
It was very natural that the crews of the vessels at Brest 
about to sail for San Domingo should look upon the Gen- 
eral Assembly as a body of men persecuted by the privileged 
classes, and should conclude that they were being sent to the 
colony to uphold officers of the king. It is probable that 
the General Assembly desired to do all possible to prevent 
the sailing of vessels carrying reinforcements to Peinier 
and that they instigated the municipality of Brest to detain 
them ; 289 but the mere narration of their misfortunes and the 
account given by the sailors recently arrived from San Do- 
mingo were sufficient to excite renewed outbreaks among 
the turbulent sailors. The members of the General Assem- 
bly would hardly have been so foolish as to prejudice their 
cause by intentionally causing disturbances in the fleet. 

On the twentieth of September after receiving a commu- 
nication from la Luzerne charging the San Domingans with 
having excited the revolt, the National Assembly passed a 
decree providing for punishment of the mutineers, the dis- 
arming of the Le'opard, the discharge of her crew and the 
removal from Brest immediately of the members of the 
regiment of Port-au-Prince. It ordered the General As- 
sembly to report at Paris at once. In the debate Barnave 
expressed himself strongly against the colonial assembly. 290 

On the twentieth of September the Eighty-Jive held a 
public meeting at Brest which adjourned to meet in Paris 
the fifth of October. On the way some visited Nantes and 
other commercial cities to obtain money from their corres- 
pondents and to arouse public opinion in their favor. 291 The 
commercial cities had been very friendly to the planters in 
the early days, 292 but now the latter met everywhere a cool 
reception. 293 Those who visited Nantes were ordered to 
depart within twenty-four hours. The belief that the 
colonial assembly plotted independence was the reason for 
this changed attitude. The island was said to be indebted 
to the merchants of France to the amount of 68,000,000 

288 Ibid, 1790, 1154. 

289 Garran tries to show, i., 284, that the General Assembly arrived at 
Brest before the first trouble in the fleet and that it was responsible for the 
outbreak. But the official reports of la Luzerne cited above show that the 
mutiny broke out on the sixth and that the colonists did not arrive until 
the fourteenth. He does the General Assembly an injustice. 

290 Moniteur, 1790, 1093, 1096, 1097. 

291 Ibid, 1127. 

292 Ibid, 709. 

893 Garran, i., 286. 



76 The General Assembly in France. 

livres, and the Planters were charged with plotting revolt in 
order to escape payment. 2 " There was also a rumor that 
the colonists wished to sell the island to the English for 
forty million livres. 295 

The opponents of the General Assembly were everywhere 
in great favor in France. The assembly of the North, Port- 
au-Prince and Croix-des-Bouquets sent commissioners to 
the National Assembly to justify their course. 296 They 
were everywhere received with honor. 291 

On the thirtieth of September the representatives of the 
two cities of San Damingo above named appeared before 
the National Assembly and defended the actions of the op- 
ponents of the General Assembly. 293 The members of this 
body were not able to appear on that date 299 but on the 
second of October the Eighty-five came before the National 
Assembly and through Valentin de Cullion as spokesman 
defended themselves from the charges against them. He 
insisted that the General Assembly represented the Planters 
who were the permanent population of the colony while 
the opposition was made up of merchants and lawyers 
temporarily in the island ; that the General Assembly had 
accepted the decrees of the eighth of March and of the 
twenty-eighth of the same month ; that the decree of the 
twenty-eighth recognized the fact that the colony needed 
laws different from those of France ; that the members of 
the General Assembly were the real representatives of the 
colony which had ratified its acts ; and that all the acts 
this body had passed were conformable to the decrees of 
the National Assembly. 300 He avoids mention of those 
acts which were most reprehensible and the speech sounds 
like an excuse of those trying to twist their actions to suit 
the laws rather than the statement of men confident of the 
righteousness of their cause. 

On the eleventh of October, Barnave, chairman of the 
colonial committee, began his report on the troubles in San 
Domingo. His speech was completed and final action 
taken on the next day. He praised de Peinier, Mauduit 
and the Assembly of the North. He declared that from 
the time of its formation the Assembly of St. Marc had 

894 Moniteur, 1790, 1053. 
495 Placide-Justin, 189. 

296 Lettre des membres de V Assemble Provincial du Nord de St. Domingue 
a V AssembUe Nationale, (Paris, 1790) ; Adresse cited in reference 192, 39-48. 
291 Garran, i., 287. 
S98 Archives, xix., 324-336. Printed separately ; see reference 192. 

299 Archives, xix., 322. 

300 ibid, xix., 422-424 ; printed separately as the Discours prononce'e a V 
AssembUe Ge'n/ra/e de la Partie Franc aise de Saint-Domingue. (Paris, 1790?). 



The General Assembly in France. J J 

usurped legislative and executive power ; had accepted the 
acts of the National Assembly only provisionally ; had, 28 ■ 
May, passed an act excluding the National Assembly from 
the regulation of the internal affairs of the colony and 
reducing the connection of the metropolis and the colony 
to a simple treaty of commerce ; had put this act into exe- 
cution at once, although it now denied this ; had acted 
illegally and without reason in opening the ports, in reor- 
ganizing the troops, in seducing the crew of the Leopard, 
and in opposing the Governor. 301 The decree proposed 
by the committee declared that the Colonial Assembly had 
violated the laws of the realm ; and it reiterated the princi- 
ples of the acts of March eighth and March twenty-eighth. 
It nullified the acts of the Colonial Assembly, deposed it, 
praised its opponents, approved of the proceedings of 
Peinier and the other officers, asked the King to summon a 
new assembly and to send troops to support the Governor, 
and ordered the members of the Colonial Assembly to wait 
the further pleasure of the National Assembly. A motion 
to adjourn was rejected, opportunity for discussion refused 
and the decree passed " by a very great majority." 302 It is 
evident that the Assembly accepted the view of Barnave as 
to the culpability of the legislature of St. Marc. 

It was almost universally believed at the time that the 
General Assembly had intended to secure independence. It 
was the charge made against it in the colony, and this 
view obtained credence in France. It must not be forgot- 
ten, however, that it was for the interest of the enemies of 
the General Assembly to make such accusations, for in no 
way could they more easily arouse the merchants, the gov- 
ernment, the National Assembly and every patriotic French- 
man to crush this body. That there were some in the Gen- 
eral Assembly and among its adherents who desired inde- 
pendence must be admitted. Venault de Charmilly, a promi- 
nent member from the beginning to the end, said that there 
was talk of independence among a small number of the in- 
habitants, and among others of placing the island under the 
power of Great Britain. 303 Vicomte Charles Lameth, as 
early as the twentieth of August, 1789, said to the Club 
Massaic, that, if, on account of the decrees of the National 
Assembly, the colony should be compelled to separate itself, 
it would be well to be prepared. 304 Even here, however, 
separation is looked upon as an evil to be avoided. 

301 Archives, xix., 566, 567. 

302 Ibid, 570. 

303 Lettre a M. Bryan Edwards, 52. 
304 Garran,_i., 130. 



78 The General Assembly in France. 

Garran says, after a consideration of the acts of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, " there is then the continual exercise of the 
most marked characteristics of independence, the rejection 
of the constitutional bases prescribed by the Assembly to 
which the nation had entrusted the formation of a constitu- 
tion for all the Empire, and the observation only of forms 
which the colonial assembly had itself decreed." 306 His 
argument is that there were but two courses open to the 
General Assembly, either entire acquiescence in the decrees 
of the National Assembly with the admission that the 
French part of San Domingo was a subject colony, or com- 
plete independence. But between these two extremes was 
another course. The planters recognized the sovereignty of 
the French king but not the supremacy of the French peo- 
ple. They claimed that as a matter of expediency this view 
was the one best suited to the interest of France and of San 
Domingo, and that as a matter of history this was the real 
relation of the two. 

Almost from the first the deputies from San Domingo had 
been instructed to act as commissioners from the colony, and 
to avoid any admission that the colony was a part of France. 
Recognizing the power of the king, the General Assembly 
further admitted that as a matter of fact there was a certain 
connection between France and San Domingo. It provided 
that its decrees, even that of the Twenty-eighth of May, 
should be submitted to the National Assembly for " accepta- 
tion " and admitted that in external affairs the voice of the 
mother country must be paramount, although demanding a 
hearing upon these matters. The circumstances of the 
colony were so different from those of France that the Na- 
tional Assembly could not legislate for it wisely, a point that 
this body had admitted in its decrees. In short it seems 
certain that the General Assembly desired home rule simi- 
lar to that now possessed by Canada and demanded by Ire- 
land. It frequently stated that the relationship existing be- 
tween France and San Domingo should be similar to that 
then existing between England and Ireland. But instead of 
allowing this new relation to be established regularly and 
gradually, it interpreted the Decrees of March eighth and 
twenty-eighth broadly, and acted as if legislative independ- 
ence had been granted it. The National Assembly had good 
reason to decide as it did, for the colonial legislature had dis- 
regarded its instructions and acted upon the assumption that 
legislative independence belonged to the colony. 

306 Ibid, i., 181, 182. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE PEOPLE OF COLOR BEFORE THE PASSAGE OF THE 
ACT OF THE TWELFTH OF OCTOBER. 

The decree of the Twelfth of October reiterated the 
statement of the National Assembly " that no laws upon 
the status of persons could be decreed for the colonies, ex- 
cept upon the definite formal demand of their colonial as- 
semblies." The people of color were not to be regarded as 
citizens and could expect concession of rights from the 
colonists only. The rival legislatures in the colony were 
perfectly agreed in opposing the claims of the free colored 
people to a share in the government. 

During the early weeks of the revolution there had been 
evidences of a disposition in Paris to grant to this class 
citizenship. The principles of the revolution really in- 
cluded such extension of rights, and some of the colonists, as 
Charles Lameth, thought that slavery could be best main- 
tained by uniting the people of color to the cause of the 
Planters. The colonial commission in Paris favored this 
view and in some parishes the free mulattoes had been 
called into the primary assemblies. The government 
favored the people of color and sought their support. In 
the Spanish part of the island the free colored people were 
politically on an equality with the whites. The Provincial 
Committee of the West was strongly in favor of giving this 
class full political and civil rights. 306 

But the agitation for emancipation of the slaves, carried 
on so vigorously by the Amis des Noirs soon caused the 
Planters to look with distrust upon everything that might 
arouse the slaves to a sense of their manhood. Among the 
causes for fear was the granting of political rights to the 
free blacks. This would have made the slaves more discon- 
tented, it was thought. The colonists fought bitterly all 
concessions to the colored people ; and the merchants and 
deputies of the great commercial cities of France gave the 
colonists the heartiest support. 



Dalmas, i., 49 ; La Croix, i., 23 ; Garran, i., 106 ; ii., 7, 8. 



80 The People of Color Before the Passage of the 

There were many outrages committed upon the people 
of color and the whites who favored their cause. Some men- 
tion has already been made of these. It is difficult to secure 
reliable accounts of the relations of the two races in the 
island, but of the fact of such outrages there can be no 
question. 307 The Assembly of the West voted (21 May, 
1790) that in taking the civil oath the colored people must 
promise to " remain submissive to the whites, to observe 
the respect which they owed them and to shed their blood 
for them." 308 The Baron de Beauvais of the Superior 
Council of the North and very prominent in the political 
affairs of the colony wrote a book to prove the negroes 
nothing but a higher order of orang-outang, and no more 
worthy of political rights than these animals. The mulat- 
toes were an unnatural species. 309 

In the colony the Assembly of the North was bitterly op- 
posed to the proposition to give political rights to the people 
of color. 310 The Assembly at St. Marc was, in general, op- 
posed to any extension of suffrage to this class, but granted 
them some amelioration of their hardships. 311 Charmilly 
says that the Assembly fixed a method by which mulattoes 
of illegitimate birth could inherit of their mother ; that it 
considered the question of granting them representation ; 
and that it was strongly moved in favor of the men of 
color. 312 Thomas Millet, another member of the General 
Assembly, says it had good intentions in regard to the peo- 
ple of color, but as Garran says, " all that one finds about 
them in its acts is very astonishingly inconsistent with this 
assertion." It would not allow them to come near the place 
of meeting ; it searched their correspondence ; it refused to 
recognize as a white man any white man who should marry 
a mulattress ; it refused to allow enfranchisement of slaves 
without its approval. 313 

The president of the Assembly of the South told them 
they should be obedient and show respectful deference to 
the whites and never to expect to share in public duties and 

301 Space and our purpose do not admit an account of these persecu- 
tions. See Garran, ii., 8-32 ; 30-37 ; Gaterau, 42-48 ; Madiou, i., 39, 40, 48- 
51 ; Madiou follows Garran. 

308 Garran, i., 113 ; ii., 14 : La Croix, i., 23, 24. 

309 Garran, ii., 23-25. 

310 Adresse de V AssembUe Provinciate de la Partie du Nord de Saint-Do- 
mingue, a V Assemble Nationale (Paris, 1790), 15. 

811 Edwards, iii., 50, 51. 

812 53, 54- 

313 |Garran, ii., 27-30. Adresse cited in reference 192, 11, 12. 



Act of the Twelfth of October. 81 

public rights. 314 They were, of course, not allowed to vote 
in the assemblies that decided upon the continuation of the 
General Assembly. Just before its end this Assembly saw 
how short-sighted its policy had been and attempted to win 
the support of the colored people by certain measures. It 
was too late, and the people of color joined Mauduit's army 
against the Assembly. Some of the people of color in Paris 
protested against the acts of the General Assembly. 316 As 
a class they were faithful to the king and National Assem- 
bly until after the twelfth of October. 



314 Garran, ii., 36. 

315 Lettre des Citoyens de Couleur a M. le President de V Assemble Nationale 
du premier aolit iygo (Paris, 1790). 



CHAPTER IX. 

SAN DOMINGO AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF THE GENERAL 

ASSEMBLY. 

The departure of the General Assembly from the island 
did not mean that its cause was lost there ; on the contrary 
its very absence seemed to arouse its supporters to 
new life and to divide its opponents. Within a short 
time such parishes as Dondon, Limbe, Petit-Goave, 
Petite-Riviere, Verettes, Port-de-Paix, Port Margot, Saint 
Rose, Grand Riviere, Borgne, Cayes, the commune of Port- 
au-Prince, Ouanaminthe, Fort Dauphin, Trou, Cotteaux, 
Torbeck, Cayes-du-Fonds, Saint Louis, Cavaillon, Aquin, 
Grand-Goave, Boynet, Leogane, Jacmel, Cayes-des-Jacmel, 
Petit-Trou, Limonade, Marmelade, 316 in one way or another 
declared their sympathy with the General Assembly. This 
list, although not complete, embraces more than one-half of 
the parishes of the colony and many of the North. Incon- 
testably the voters in these parishes supported the General 
Assembly, that is, the Planter class adhered to their repre- 
sentatives. The Moniteur points out that many of these 
provinces recognized the supreme power of the National 
Assembly ; but protestations of fidelity at this time were 
probably dictated by policy. 

After the departure of the General Assembly the rivalry 
between the governor and the Assembly of the North, 
which had disappeared for a time, broke out. It was 
charged that Peinier, as early as August sixteenth, sent or- 
ders to have the Assembly dissolved 311 and that he and 
Mauduit were plotting a counter revolution in sympathy 
with the fonigrts and the royal princes. They certainly acted 
in a peremptory manner, regardless of the National Assem- 
bly, arresting prominent enemies, as Caradeux, a member of 
the General Assembly, and seizing private property. 318 By 
order of the governor, Mauduit (18 August) invited the 

316 Nouvelles de Saint-Domingue , Nos. 6, 7, 11, 12, 15. [The Nouvelles was 
published by the Eighty-five in Paris to represent their cause. It contains 
much documentary and epistolary evidence regarded by the Moniteur 
(1791, 26) as valuable] ; Moniteur, 1790, No. 316, supplement ; 1791, 26. 

311 Moniteur, 1790, 1237 ; La Croix, i., 52. 

818 Moniteur, 1790, 1237 ; Nouvelles de Saint-Dotningue, No. 6. 



San Domingo After Departure of General Assembly. 83 

mulattoes and free negroes to join the troops. 319 Soldiers 
brought from the Cape had refused, on arrival at Port-au- 
Prince, to fight against the citizens and had riots with the 
regular troops. 320 

The " patriotic army " gathered at Leogane to protect 
the Assembly of St. Marc had been collected mainly from 
the South, and in this part of the colony much hostility to 
the established authorities was revealed. The government 
was too weak to assert its authority there. 3 ' 21 After the de- 
parture of the General Assembly there was nothing to be 
gained by continuing the war since the quarrel must be de- 
cided by the National Assembly. The proposition looking 
toward the conclusion of a peace proceeded from the sup- 
porters of the General Assembly. 32 " After negotiations in 
which the rebels were obliged to yield nearly all demands 
of the governor, 323 an agreement was reached, and on the 
twenty-third the Treaty of Leogane was ratified. This was 
strictly a truce or suspension of hostilities. The confedera- 
tion of the South strengthened itself and did not cease to 
regard the governor as its bitter enemy. Within three days 
after the ratification of the treaty, charges and counter- 
charges of non-fulfillment of its conditions were made by 
the leaders of the two parties. 324 

On the day after the conclusion of the treaty a number 
of parishes, chiefly of the South, formed a confederation for 
the advancement of their common interests and the com- 
batting of oppression. Until the National Assembly should 
give a decision it would forego a part of its rights and it 
consented to negotiate with " M. Peinier." An executive 
council of sixteen members had authority to levy taxes, 
raise an army and concert with the municipalities neces- 
sary measures. 325 

In spite of a protest from the Assembly of the North 
against this body, many parishes joined the confederation 
of the South, which continued to exercise the power which 
had been in the hands of the General Assembly, although its 



319 Nouvelles de Saint- Domingue, No. 13; No. 6, p. 2. 

320 Ibid, No; 6, p. 4. 

321 Garran, 276 ; Nouvelles de Saint- Domingue, No. 14, No. 28, pp. 4, 5. 

322 Nouvelles de Saint- Domingue, No. 12, p. 6 ; Garran, i., 278. Many let- 
ters bearing on these negotiations may be found in the Nouvelles, No. 28, 
pp. 1-12 ; and Moniteur, 1790, 1245. 

323 Nouvelles, No. 14, p. 19 ; Moniteur, 1790, 1265. 

324 Nouvelles, No. 13. pp. 2-11. 

325 Moniteur, 1790, No. 316, supplement. 



84 San Domingo After the Departure 

attention was confined to matters of practical importance 
rather than to constitutional questions. 346 

On the twenty-ninth of August de Peinier ordered the pri- 
mary assemblies to elect delegates to a new colonial assem- 
bly. A large majority refused outright, others paid no at- 
tention to the matter and others simply re-elected their dele- 
gates to the General Assembly. 3 " The departure of this 
body for France had discredited the charges of a desire for 
independence and had strengthened its position. The As- 
sembly of the North was weak. Gerard declared (25 Nov.) 
in the National Assembly that he had official information 
from eleven parishes of the withdrawal of their delegates 
from this Assembly and that he had reliable authority for 
saying that nineteen of the parishes of the North had dis- 
avowed its acts. Barnave admitted that many parishes did 
not recognize it. 3SB Many excesses were committed in this 
time of confusion. The courts instead of restoring order 
seemed rather to assist in creating anarchy. 3 " 

The president of the National Assembly and the Minister 
of Marine seem to have been inexcusably slow in rendering 
official news to the colony. The letter accompanying the 
decree of the twelfth of October was dated November the 
third and reached the island not until the middle of Febru- 
ary. The first unofficial information of this decree was not 
received until December the seventh 330 but then aroused 
great enthusiasm in all opponents of the General As- 
sembly. 331 

Had the Assembly of the North and the governor shown 
any willingness to conciliate those who wished to unite 
with it the troubles might have been settled, but both fac- 
tions were very arrogant over their victory. Peinier, 
tired of the strife, resigned and returned to France. He 
had tried to carry out the wishes of the National Assembly. 
Although he was not a strong man his character on the 
whole commands respect and his administration our ap- 
proval, until the arrival of Mauduit. Under the influence 

826 Moniteur, 1790, 1333; Nouvelles, No. 6,7; No. 12, 5 ; Garran, i., 
298, 299. 
8 " Nouvelles, Nos. II, 6, 12, n ; Placide-Justin, 191. 
828 Nouvelles, No. 6, 7, and 7, 7. Archives, xx., 744; Garran. i., 302, 

307. 

889 Nouvelles, Nos 7, 12, 28; Moniteur, 1781, 25. Garran, i., 307-309 ; 
Adresse h Messieurs de V AssembUe Nationale (Paris, 1790?), written by 
Imbert. 

830 Garran, i., 309, 322. 

881 Moniteur, 1791, 197, 225, 371. 



of the General Assembly. 85 

of this aggressive adherent of the royal power his course 
became severe and despotic. His successor was Rouxel de 
Blanchelande, an officer who had had some successful ex- 
perience in the army. He soon fell under the influence of 
Mauduit. 

The military power of the governor was strengthened ; 
and interference with personal liberty and the mails con- 
tinued. At one time there were rumors that he intended 
to dissolve the Assembly of the North but all complaints 
ended in professed friendship. The Assembly sent com- 
missioners to reside near him ; and he urged the refractory 
parishes of the North to send delegates to it. 333 

332 Garran, i., 313-318 ; Moniteur, 1791, 371. 



CHAPTER X. 

oge's rebellion. 

During the last three months of 1790 the colony was much 
alarmed by a rebellion of the mulattoes which, although 
speedily checked, threatened at one time to result in a gen- 
eral rising of that class. Among the numerous young mu- 
lattoes in Paris was a San Domingan by the name of Oge\ 333 
Brought up and educated in the island he had, in 1789, gone 
to Paris and had become attached to Raimond, with him 
had heard Mirabeau, Lafayette, Gregoire and other ardent 
friends of the negroes set forth the rights of man and ex- 
pose the wrongs of the negroes. In the attempts to secure 
from the National Assembly the extension of political rights 
to the free people of color, he took an active part, but all 
seemed in vain and he brooded over the idea that a great 
step must be taken — that some one must be a Moses to his 
people. Lacking the moderation of Raimond, who tried to 
convince him that their cause must finally triumph, and that 
any attempt to gain their ends by arms must result in a post- 
ponement of the day of liberty for their race, he resolved 
after the passage of the decrees of the Eighth and Twenty- 
eighth of March that force must be used and that he must 
lead his people. The latter of these decrees said that " all. 
persons " were entitled to political rights and, in his opinion, 
that meant all free people of color. To him the subtle ar- 
gument that, since the decree of the Eighth of March said 
that no change was intended in the status of persons in the 
island, since the second decree was expressly stated to be 
instructions for the carrying out of the first and since in- 
structions could not contradict that which they were de- 
signed to explain, these decrees intended to include only 
whites in the list of citizens, was merely the chicanery of the 
Club Massaicand its adherents, designed to cheat the people 
of color of those rights so long fought for and so hardly 
won. With the ardor of youth and a burning desire to cor- 
rect evils, impetuous and impressed with the great story of 

333 General authority on Oge and this revolt are Garran, ii., 42-73 ; Ma- 
diou, i., 52-62. 



Ogfs Rebellion. 87 

wrongs endured so long by his race, he felt that he was 
called to be a deliverer. 

His plans became known and every effort was made to 
prevent his departure. It was next to impossible for any 
colored man to leave France, for in every part were those 
who were on the watch to hinder all such from embarking. 
In league with these planters were the merchants and ship 
captains of France, so that had a mulatto succeeded in get- 
ting on board as a stowaway, he was certain to be discovered 
and either handed over to the authorities on reaching the 
colony or returned to France. When it was known that Oge 
was planning some movement for his people, particular pains 
were taken to prevent any such enterprise. All precautions 
were redoubled and so successfully that he was unable to get 
passage for the island. Finally under an assumed name he 
succeed in reaching England and, after an interview with 
Clarkson, from whom he secured money and letters, Oge 
sailed for Charleston, S. C, whence he secured passage to 
his native island, reaching the Cape October the twelfth. 
At night he landed safely, for it seems that no one had an- 
ticipated his coming from " New England " as the writers 
of the times sometimes called the recently emancipated colo- 
nies, and was at once off for his old home at Dondon, close 
to the Spanish border. Here with his friends he spent the 
last quiet days of his life in preparation for the venture he 
was about to make. He collected a small force of mulat- 
toes — even his enemies do not put the number at over three 
hundred — arranged with his brethren of the South for a 
rising there and then boldly declared himself and his pur- 
pose. 334 

On the twenty-eighth of October, with his little army and 
with his friend Jean Baptiste Chavaune as second in com- 
mand, he attacked the village of Grande-Riviere, refusing to 
adopt the urgent suggestions of his friends that he arouse 
the slaves to rebellion. From that step he recoiled, the time 
was not ripe. Only for what he considered legal and con- 
stitutional rights, wrongfully withheld, did he struggle. 
Noble and simple were the words in which he announced to 
Peinier his object: "No! No! Monsieur, le comte, we 
will not remain under the yoke as we have for two centuries ; 
the rod of iron that has beaten us is broken ; we demand 
the execution of this decree ; avoid then by your prudence 
an evil which you cannot allay. My profession of faith is 
to secure the execution of the decree which I helped ob- 

334 Moniteur, 1790, 1475, 1479. 



88 Oge"s Rebellion. 

tain, to repel force by force and finally to bring to an end a 
prejudice as unjust as it is barbarous." Nor did his actions 
belie his words. Always he restrained his followers from 
murder and cruelty. Two dragoons were brought before 
him as prisoners but he dismissed them saying " no evil will 
be done you, we are not men of blood ; in that we do not 
resemble men of your caste." In his letters he insisted that 
he came only to secure the execution of the decree of March 
twenty-eighth, and that he did not include in his demands 
the amelioration of the lot of the slave. 335 

Throughout the province his appearance caused fear. The 
governor issued a proclamation calling upon the people to 
combine against the common foe, forgetting their sources of 
dissension for the while. 336 An extraordinary session of the 
Assembly was called, a price set on Oge's head and Vincent 
sent against him with six or eight hundred men. But the 
mulattoes repulsed this force, three times the size of their 
own. Finally this little handful was scattered by an army 
six times its size, with artillery, and under a skillful general. 

With a few followers Oge and Chavaune fled across the 
Spanish line for refuge, but they were hunted down and 
after the interchange of letters with Blanchelande, 837 who 
had meanwhile become governor, Don Garcia, governor of 
the Spanish colony surrendered them to the French au- 
thorities. 838 It was a great day at the Cape when the 
corvette La Favorite brought into the harbor these high 
traitors, and a profitable voyage the gifts of the citizens 
made it for Negrier, her captain. In the South an insurrec- 
tion under the lead of Rigaud was quelled by Mauduit. 389 

The Superior Council of the Cape and the Assembly of 
the North quarreled over the question who had a right to 
try the criminals. The former was victorious and accused 
them of sedition, robbery, murder and intention to arouse 
the slaves to revolt. Through the months of January and 
February the trial dragged along, although the accused were 
not heard and were not allowed counsel. On the twenty- 
third of February the verdict was given that these two men 
" shall be conducted by the Chief Executive before the par- 
ish church of this city, and there bare-headed and in their 
shirts, with a rope around their necks, on their knees, and 

336 Ibid, 1495. 

338 Ibid, 1791, 45. 

331 Ibid, 1791, 45, 181. 

338 Ibid, 1791, 249, Ardouin, i., 150-157. 

839 Monitcur, 1791, 53 ; Edwards, iii., 70, 71. 



Oge"s Rebellion. 89 

having in their hands each a torch of burning wax of the 
weight of two pounds, they shall apologize and declare in a 
high and intelligible voice that it was wicked, rash and ill- 
advised, that they have committed the crimes of which 
they were convicted, that they repent and ask pardon of 
God, of the king, and of justice ; this done they shall be 
conducted to the place d' armes of this city, to the side op- 
posite to the part designed for the execution of the whites, 
and there have arms, legs, thighs and back broken alive, 
upon a scaffold to be arranged for this purpose, and then 
shall be placed on wheels, faces turned toward the sky, to 
remain there so long as it shall please God to preserve their 
lives; this done their heads shall be cut off and exposed on 
posts." Another companion of Og6 was broken alive, 
twenty-one were hung and thirteen sent to the galleys for 
life, while the rest suffered penalties of less severity. How 
much the whites feared the blacks is evident. 

After Oge's death a document was produced purporting 
to be his testament in which he confessed to having shared 
in a plot for a great uprising on the plantations. 340 That 
such a document should be so contrary to all his declara- 
tions while alive and to his actions is sufficient to render it 
worthy of suspicion, especially as it was not produced until 
nine months after his death. In a long discussion Garran 
shows that both the circumstances of Oge's trial and death, 
and the statements made in the document itself render it 
very certain that the paper is a forgery. 341 Even were it 
really written by Oge, any statement made by him in the 
hope of escaping death and under severest torture could 
not be regarded of great value. 

The charge has also been made against him that he was 
an agent of la Luzerne and other reactionists sent out to 
bring about a counter-revolution. 3 " Such an incredible 
story could have obtained even the slight credence it had 
only during the Reign of Terror, when anything was believed 
of the monarchy and its adherents. Instead of desiring to 
overthrow the National Assembly and its decrees, Oge de- 
sired to secure their recognition. Neither he nor his race 
could have expected anything from a restoration of mon- 
archy, and the government authorities were too far-sighted 
not to see that a slave insurrection or a revolt of the free 

340 Edwards, iii., 235-244. 

341 Garran, ii., 54-65. 

342 Page, Discours Historique sur les causes et les de'sastres de la parlie 
francaise de Saint-Domingue, etc. (Paris, 1793) 7-9 ; Edwards, iii., 244. 



00 0ge"s Rebellion. 

people of color would simply result in a union of all the 
colonists and all the commerce of France against it. How- 
ever much Oge's imprudence may be condemned, it must 
be admitted that he was a sincere martyr to the cause of 
liberty. That justice and order demanded his death for in- 
citing rebellion and for taking the execution of the law into 
his own hands is incontestable, but his name must be placed 
with those of the John Browns and Charlotte Cordays. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE POWER OF THE GOVERNMENT OVERTHROWN. 

On the second of March a squadron of five ships, con- 
taining regiments of Artois and Normandy, arrived at Port- 
au-Prince. During the voyage there had been many evi- 
dences of insubordination, so that de Villages, the com- 
mander, said he would probably not have been able to land 
his troops elsewhere than at the capital, where they wished 
to go. 343 This mutinous spirit was due to the spread of the 
revolutionary spirit, to a feeling that in coming to San 
Domingo they were to support the old regime, and to the 
influence of the mutiny at Brest a few months before. 

The colony was not unprepared for the coming of these 
republicans. The Eighty-five still maintained that the Gen- 
eral Assembly was the representative of the people and 
some of them had returned to the island and were active in 
opposing the Governor. Cocherel had resigned his seat in 
the National Assembly after the decree of the Twelfth of 
October, and devoted himself in the colony to the cause of 
the dissolved Assembly. 344 Continual agitation against the 
existing administration was kept up by these men. Toward 
the end of February a false decree, of considerable celebrity 
subsequently, was spread among the soldiers. It purported 
to have been passed by the National Assembly in Decem- 
ber, and declared the decree of the Twelfth of October re- 
voked. 345 On account of this agitation Blanchelande feared 
to have the disaffected troops come and tried to have the 
regiments landed at the Mole, but unsuccessfully. After a 
hurried consultation de Villages and Blanchelande decided 
to send the squadron and troops back to the North. They 
addressed the soldiers, and at first the regiment of Nor- 
mandy showed no discontent, but having communicated with 
that of Artois it joined the latter in refusing to go and in 
requesting that they be allowed to send delegations of four 
men from each company into the city. 346 This request was 
granted. After these delegations had seen Blanchelande's 



^Garran, i., 325 
344 Ibid, 328 



345 Moniteur, 1791, 476; Garran, i., 329-331. 

m Archives, xxv., 335 sq. Official report of de Villages, de Courvoyer 



92 The Power of the Government Overthrown. 

instructions from the home government and had learned that 
he was empowered to send them where he deemed it expe- 
dient, they consented to go to the Mole if they might have 
three or four days rest at Port-au-Prince. They had com- 
municated with the city and knew they would have a warm 
welcome from the citizens. Blanchelande did not dare re- 
fuse. He also yielded to some demands of the Committee 
of the West with regard to the enrollment of the Pompons 
Blancs in the volunteers and the wearing of cockades. 341 

On the ships the sailors mutinied on the third of March, 
and although at first reduced to obedience by de Villages, 
they, with the soldiers of the two regiments, were so in- 
fluenced by citizens and soldiers from the city that it was 
impossible to control them after Blanchelande had shown 
himself so lacking in firmness. They all went ashore, and 
as de Villages said " finally everything was in confusion." 
On shore the citizens had taken things into their own hands, 
opening the prisons. The people of color released Rigaud 
and others prominent in the mulatto rebellion contempora- 
neous with that of Oge\ 348 

The commander of the regiment of Port-au-Prince says 
that his regiment remained faithful until the false decree was 
spread about. 349 This made them discontented ; but disci- 
pline was entirely destroyed in the local regiment as a result 
of the conduct of the regiments recently arrived. These 
new comers not only were in sympathy with the people but 
refused to fraternize with the regiment supporting the gov- 
ernor until it should restore the popular assemblies and 
atone for the wrong done the National Guard of the island 
by Mauduit on the twenty-ninth of July, by restoring the 
colors then seized. 850 

It should be remembered that the regiment of Port-au- 
Prince had really remained a part of the old troops of the 
line, not having undergone the renovation which resulted in 
the National Guards. 

Mauduit advised Blanchelande to flee and the state of af- 
fairs was such that the governor followed this advice. Mau- 
duit was seized by his own soldiers. To the demand of the 
officers of the district that the flags taken in August be re- 

who succeeded Mauduit and of the Municipality of Port-au-Prince are 
given. 

841 Garran. i., 336-338. 

348 Madiou, i., 63. 

849 Archives, xxv., 337. 

8BU Garran, i., 339, 340. 



The Power of the Government Overthrown. 93 

stored he assented and sent soldiers to make public restitu- 
tion to the commune. He even consented to surrender per- 
sonally the colors before the house in which they were 
seized. When there, however, he refused to kneel and 
apologize for the insult done the people. He was instantly 
murdered, and among the assassins were many of his own 
soldiers. His body was horribly mutilated. 351 His anti- 
republican sentiments, his arbitrary conduct in San Domin- 
go, the intrigues of his enemies, the arrival of the new regi- 
ments tinged with the most advanced republicanism, the cir- 
culation of the false decree which had a remarkable effect, 362 
all conspired to bring about the final result. The regiments 
of Artoisand Normandy are said not to have participated in 
or approved of this butchery and they did what they could 
to restore order. 353 

The supporters of the General Assembly had triumphed. 
The government of Port-au-Prince was intrusted to a muni- 
cipality, composed largely of the old members of the Com- 
mittee of the West. It abolished the office of intendant, 
organized a new Superior Council and formed an armed 
force. 364 De Villages had to recognize the supremacy of the 
new government. It requested the governor to return, as- 
suring him of safety, and sent addresses to the king and Na- 
tional Assembly declaring its submission to the decree of 
the twelfth of October. 355 

The success of the movement in the capital led the par- 
ishes very generally to approve the course of the munici- 
pality of St. Marc. All but one or two came into union 
with it. The history of April and May reveal little that is 
of importance. The air of the island seemed to breed dis- 
cord. The most important of the minor quarrels was be- 
tween the regiments of Artois and Normandy on the one 
hand and that of Port-au-Prince on the other. The latter 
was inclined to support the old regime, but was sent back to 
France and afterward did good service. 356 

Blanchelande refused to return to Port-au-Prince and re- 
mained at the Cape. He tried to secure troops to restore 

351 Edwards, iii., 81, 82 ; Dalmas, i,, 95-100 ; Garran, i., 34i~343 ; Madiou, 
i., 63. 64 ; Chotard, Precis de la Revolution de Saint- Domingue depuis le fin 
de ijSg jusffu' au 18 Juin, 1794. (Philadelphia, 1795). 36-40 I Archives, xxv., 
338. 

362 Moniteur, 1791, 476 ; Garran, i., 343-348. 

863 Chotard, 41. 

364 Madiou, i., 65 ; Garran, i., 349. 

355 Garran, i. , 351. 

366 Ibid, i. ( 355-358. 



94 The Power of the Government Overthrown. 

his authority. 867 He seems to have been at times on the best 
of terms with the Assembly of the North and then again to 
have quarrelled with it. He was received by it with great 
honor and afterwards charged with counter-revolutionary 
projects. Garran thinks there is reason for believing that 
Blanchelande was endeavoring to overthrow the power of 
the National Assembly and to restore the old regime. 358 But 
the adherents of the former General Assembly had full 
sway until the breaking out of the rebellion of the mulat- 
toes followed by one on the part of the slaves introduced a 
worse state of anarchy than had hitherto existed. 

351 Discours justificatif de Philibert-Francois Rouxel Blanchelande, ancien 
Gouverneur des Isles Francois sous le Vent de V Amerique (Paris, 1793), 7. 
368 i., 360-362. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE DECREE OF THE FIFTEENTH OF MAY, 1 79 1. 

After the passage of the decree of the Twelfth of October 
the affairs of the colonies were not before the Assembly much 
for some months. Commissioners were in November sent 
to Martinique to settle troubles similar to those in San Do- 
mingo, and were given full authority. On the first of Feb- 
ruary, 1791, the Assembly voted to send to San Domingo 
three civil commissioners, authorized to maintain order and 
the public tranquility, with power to suspend judgment in 
criminal cases begun on account of the troubles in the is- 
land. The Assembly had also voted to send six thousand 
troops to the Antilles. 359 

During all this time the members of the General Assem- 
bly had remained in Paris. With the Club Massaic and the 
delegates of the commercial cities they tried to secure the 
passage of an act which should place the control of com- 
mercial relations in the hands of a joint committee. 360 Al- 
though the General Assembly had been dissolved the fate of 
the Eighty-five had not been decided and they had been 
kept in France as a measure of safety. Barnave stated that 
many recognized and repented of their errors. He read a 
letter from this faction in which they confessed their errors, 
admitted the authority of the National Assembly and prom- 
ised obedience to it. This letter was signed by forty-six 
old members, including several who had been prominent in 
the agitation. But a large proportion of the original Eighty- 
five did not subscribe to the views contained in this docu- 
ment. 361 

On the thirteenth of March, 1791, a letter was read to 
the National Assembly from the former General Assem- 
bly demanding that some decision be made as to their 
fate, or that they be allowed to return to their homes. 
They were granted permission to appear the next day, as 
individuals, but not as members of any body. 362 Linguet 

369 Archives, xxv. , 127 ; xxii, 666. The officially printed copy of the law 
is dated 11 February. 

360 Garran, ii.. 77-79. 

361 Archives, xxiii., 679, 680 ; xxv., 340, 341. 

362 Ibid, xxiv., 463, 464. 



96 The Decree of the Fifteenth of May, 1791. 

acted as their spokesman, but some of their treasonable 
utterances made after the twelfth of October could not 
be explained away. On motion of Barnave the Assembly 
voted to refer the instructions drawn up for the government 
of the colony, together with the petition from the members 
of the former General Assembly, to a committee composed 
of the committees on the Constitution, on the Marine, on 
Agriculture, on Commerce, and on the Colonies. 363 

The ultra-republicans of a later period who secured Bar- 
nave's death on the revolutionary scaffold, made many ani- 
madversions on his connection with the colonies. Garran 
intimates that he was bribed and that he was trying to se- 
cure the separation of the administration of the Colonies 
from that of the Marine, and the appointment of himself as 
minister in charge, although he admits there are only more 
or less vague presumptions to support the charge. He also 
charges him with having proposed to the different factions a 
kind of coalition which might work a general reconciliation 
and save the colony. 364 He did accomplish much in the way 
of harmonizing divergent parties, but there is no reason for 
charging him with a selfish motive for doing this. Page, 
Brulley and le Grand, commissioners sent to San Domingo 
in 1793, also make charges against Barnave and say that he 
confessed to having been deceived. 366 

But there is no reason to doubt the honesty and high- 
mindedness of Barnave. The proclamations and acts of the 
Colonial Assembly alone are sufficient to convict this body 
of having acted in opposition to the National Assembly and 
are sufficient to justify Barnave's course. The charges were 
brought against him in a later, more radical period, when any 
one who had tried to retain royalty, introduce a limited 
monarchy, and harmonize conflicting interests, was looked 
back upon as an ultra-royalist. The evidence for the charges 
against Barnave is insignificant and general presumption 
strongly in his favor. 

On the seventh of May, Delattre, in the name of the 
committee appointed on the thirtieth of March, introduced 
an act which should be a constitutional law for the colony. 
The committee desired first of all to secure the safety and 
continued existence of the colony. In accordance with the 

363 Ibid, xxiv., 486-491 ; 580-597. 

864 Garran i., 128 ; ii., 76, 82-86. 

365 A la Convention Nationale, n'ponse de Page et Brulley, commissaires de 
St. Domingue, de'pute's pris la convention nationale aux colonnies git' on a fait 
signer au citoyen Belley (Paris ?), 1 , 2. 



The Decree of the Fifteenth of May, ijgi. 97 

act of the Twelfth of October, it held that the right of mak- 
ing laws upon personal status should remain with the colo- 
nies. The first article of the decree was : " The National 
Assembly decrees as a constitutional article that no law upon 
the status of persons may be made by the legislative body 
except upon the precise and formal demand of the colonial 
assemblies." It also provided that a congress of delegates of 
the principal West Indian colonies should meet at St. Mar- 
tin to consider the status of the colored people and that its 
decision, when approved by the Assembly, should be a final 
settlement of this question. 3ee 

The debate that followed was a brilliant one and all the 
leading members of the Assembly participated. It occu- 
pied six days (7, 11-15 May). Deputations and petitions 
from all the contending interests were received. Oge's death 
had aroused much interest throughout France in the cause 
of the people of color. 387 The newspapers and theatres as- 
sisted in the agitation. The debates in the Assembly were 
stormy. The supporters of the measure argued that every 
people should have the initiative in matters pertaining ex- 
clusively to themselves ; that to give the free people of color 
suffrage would incite the slaves to revolt ; that if the measure 
were not passed the colonists would revolt and surrender the 
colony to England ; and that the passage of the act was 
necessary as a protection to French commerce. The friends 
of the mulattoes, on the other hand, represented that re- 
fusal to allow the free colored people to vote was not con- 
sistent with the Declaration of Rights ; that by the strict 
wording of the Instructions of March Twenty-eighth they 
were entitled to the suffrage; that by the Edict of 1685 
they had enjoyed equal rights with the whites ; 868 that there 
would be no more danger of disaffection among the slaves 
by reason of giving the people of color political rights than 
there had been in giving them civil rights ; that in the 
Spanish part of the island the free mulattoes had political 
rights without endangering the existence of slavery ; and 
that mere justice entitled them to rights they were qualified 
to enjoy. 

As the days passed it was evident that the party favoring 
the people of color was gaining ground. On the fifteenth 
Rewbell proposed the following amendment, really a substi- 
tute for the bill : " The National Assembly decrees that the 

^Archives, xxv., 638 sq. 

361 Dalmas, i., 109, no ; Edwards, iii., 85 ; Ardouin, i., 158 sqq. 

368 True stricti juris put in practice far from true. 



98 The Decree of the Fifteenth of May, 17 gi. 

legislative body will never deliberate on the political state 
of the people of color who are not born of free father and 
mother without the previous desire, free and spontaneous, 
of the colonies ; that the colonial assemblies actually exist- 
ing shall continue ; but that the people of color born of free 
father and mother shall be admitted to all the future parish 
and colonial assemblies, if they have in other respects the 
required qualifications." This was passed after much oppo- 
sition. 369 

With the passage of this act a new period in the history 
of the colony begins. During the first two years of the 
French Revolution, the history of the French part of San 
Domingo was largely the history of its white inhabitants. 
The questions of slavery and of the political status of the 
free blacks were important political factors, but during this 
time the negroes were not the chief actors. Since the 
fifteenth of May, 1791, the history of the colony has been 
the history of the blacks, either in their struggle for free- 
dom or in their life after its acquirement. 

On the sixteenth of May the deputies of the colony with- 
drew from the National Assembly ; 370 all parties of whites 
from the colony united to oppose the decree ; many treason- 
able letters were sent to the island ; 371 the white colonists 
went there to oppose the execution of the decree ; in the 
island there were bitter attacks on the National Assembly 
and preparations were made for resistance. Blanchelande 
refused to carry out the provisions of the law and a new 
assembly was chosen to which the blacks were not admitted. 
In July, convinced that their rights could be gained in no 
other way, themulattoes rose in armed insurrection. In the 
fall the slave revolts followed. For years after the island 
was a scene of bloodshed and horror. 

369 Archives, xxv. and xxvi., under 7, 11-15, 21, 27-29 May. 

310 Ibid, xxvi., 122. 

371 Garran, ii., 91-105, gives many extracts from such letters. 







THE EARLY YEARS 



OF THE 



FRENCH REVOLUTION 



IN 



SAN DOMINGO. 



PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE CORNELL 

UNIVERSITY AS A THESIS FOR THE DEGREE 

OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, 

JULY, 1889. 



HERBERT ELMER MILLS, 

Associate Professor of History and Economics in Vassar College. 
Recently Fellow and Instructor in History, Cornell University. 



PHE88 OF A. V. HAIQHT, POUGHKEIPSIE, N. V. 



